The Mystery of Madness
by witchinmoonlight
Summary: Set six years after the end of the original series (with some slight AU stuff), Jeremie Belpois and his wife Aelita are soon to be expecting their first child. But when Aelita disappears with no explanation, Jeremie must reunite the gang to find her and quickly. Unfortunately, Xana, their worst foe, has returned, and she's after Aelita too. Can they find Aelita before Xana does?
1. Where Did it All Go Wrong?

Author's Notes:

-Alright, this is going to sound confusing, but just bear with me. When I originally published this story, this was written before Discord and Divergence. Technically, this comes before Discord and Divergence and is the first Code Lyoko fanfic I've ever made. Since I was in such a rush to get the first 19 chapters over to this website so THENINJAOFCOOL could continue reading it, I didn't bother to publish my other stuff here. (Getting those 19 chapters of Discord and Divergence was really stressful and it took three days to get them all on there...)

-This is gonna be a long story. By the time I've finished re-unfolding the story, it will be the longest fanfic in terms of number of chapters. So get your popcorn and soda and watch the madness unfold!

-The story will be formatted similar to Nights Out of Dreams, The Battle of Dunbar and Discord and Divergence. It will also be narrated from five different first person points of view, shifting from one chapter to the next. Eventually, you'll see a pattern.

Alright, let's get on with the show!

Oh, um, hello. I kind of wished they would start with someone else in this story, but I suppose they chose me for a reason. Where do I begin? Oh, I should probably start with an introduction, even thought you probably don't need it. My name is Jeremie Belpois. At this moment, me and most of the Lyoko crew (not counting Yumi and William, who are a year older than us) were now 20 years old, and I had various jobs which relate to computer and robot programming. My wife Aelita and I are expecting our child to arrive in almost a month, and at this point, I thought nothing could go wrong. That's probably what Aelita believed as well, but little did I know, fate had some other plans for us all. I had no idea just how wrong I was. I woke up in the middle of the night and saw that Aelita was not beside me.

Jeremie: Aelita? Aelita?! (he sees her cellphone has been left behind)

I looked through the entire house we lived in twice. There was no note, her cellphone was left behind, there was no trace of her anywhere within the house we lived in, and no explanation for her disappearance. I fell to the floor on my knees, completely devastated by the bad news.

Jeremie: I don't understand. What could of happened? Where did it all go wrong?

I remembered how we were able to bring Aelita into the real world, how we defeated Xana many years ago, and so many other memories that gave me nostalgia.

(Jeremie is seen with Aelita, holding her hand under a moonlit night)

Aelita: So many stars...

Jeremie: Beautiful, isn't it?

Aelita: Which one of those stars do you think is the closest?

Jeremie: I know which one is the closest star.

Aelita: And which one would that be?

Jeremie: You. (Aelita smiles and blushes)

Even after three hours, when it was 8:30 in the morning, I was still confused.

Jeremie: Well Jeremie, you know what you must do. (he grabs his cellphone and begins to dial a number very slowly)

I wanted to call in the threesome, aka, Ulrich, Yumi and William to help, but since I hadn't talked them to them in about a year, I don't know what ever became of them. I hoped that they were alive and well. And I knew the last one I could call on also didn't know about Aelita's current condition, but I had no one else to turn to. I wouldn't tell him, or the rest of my friends, but I knew I had to call him, no matter how busy he might be today.

Jeremie: Come on... Please... answer me...

I waited for what seemed like hours... And little did I know, this would be only the beginning of the chain-reaction of disasters...


	2. Reality Becomes a Nightmare

Most nights I didn't remember my dreams, or they didn't make any sense at all. This time I remembered all of them. The first and second dreams made sense, but third dream I couldn't understand at all. Oh this is Odd Della Robia speaking. For the last three nights in a row, I've had nightmares. The first one was when we nearly lost Aelita because of Xana inserting a virus that erased her after she deactivated a tower in Lyoko. The second one was when Aelita got infected with Xana's virus that forced us to keep the supercomputer on for many more moons. But while the first two were previous events, the third one never happened. All of us but Aelita were in the factory, walking through the deserted area and having a perfectly good time.

(Odd sees a shadow-like woman and freezes in his tracks, the others then notice her)

Odd: Who.. who are you?

Shadow: You don't recognize me? Well you will soon enough... (Odd sees Yumi, Ulrich and Jeremie choking in the shadow-woman's dark tentacles)

Odd: Leave them alone! Who are you?! What do you want from me?! (the tentacles grab Odd by his leg) Leave me alone! (she throws them aside and runs towards William, who is chained up)

Yumi: William! NO! (Odd wakes up, breathing heavily, Sissi runs into his room)

Sissi: Odd! Are you ok?

Odd: I'm fine. It was just a nightmare.

Sissi: Do you know why these nightmares have been happening?

Odd: Unfortunately I have no clue...

I have a bad habit of screaming in my sleep when I have a nightmare.

Sissi: It's 8:30, you have to be at Lily's Gourmet By the Bay in 30 minutes, Odd!

Odd: Don't you remember? I have the day... (his phone rings, the chorus of _Happy_ plays) I should probably answer that. (he answers it) Hello?

Jeremie (on phone): Odd, I need to talk to you. I hate to disturb you, but we have a major problem.

Odd: What is it?

Jeremie (on phone): Aelita has gone missing! No note, no trace, no explanation! And her phone has been left behind.

Odd: Oh dear... That's not good at all. But why are you calling me?

Jeremie (on phone): Because I need you to help me search for her and solve the mystery behind her disappearance.

Odd: What about the others, can't they come?

Jeremie (on phone): I don't know what happened to them, do you?

Odd: Oh yeah right, they went on a sojourn across America. I'll be right there.

Jeremie (on phone): Meet me at the Eiffel Tower. Goodbye. (he hangs up)

Sissi: What's going on?

Odd: It looks like they need me. I'll see you later, sweetie. (he kisses Sissi on the cheek and then walks away)

Sissi: Something seems odd here...

Ok, long story short, I was a chef at Lily's Gourmet By the Bay, a restaurant near the Seine River in Paris. Oh and Sissi's my girlfriend. We were living in an apartment together. Why? Long story. I met up with Einstein and searched for hours, but we found nothing. I tried calling Yumi, which didn't go very well.

Odd: Yumi, what's going on?! What do you mean by complete disaster?

Yumi (on phone, very loud): A hurricane is coming!

Jeremie: Yumi, what's happening?!

Yumi (on phone): Odd, what's so important that... (the signal is lost)

Odd: Yumi, are you there? Yumi! Oh no...

Both of us hated thinking about what could possibly be happening to our friends in America. We tried calling Ulrich and William but they didn't respond. As much as we hated it, we were on our own.


	3. A True Disaster

Konichiwa! This is Yumi Ishiyama reporting to you from New Orleans, Louisiana. Me, Ulrich and William, sometimes called the threesome, were on a sojourn across America. We had stopped here while the town was celebrating Mardi Gras. I've always wanted to celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans, so my boyfriends didn't mind stopping here at all. Yes, you heard me correctly. I have not one, but two boyfriends, and they're the two boys that are traveling with me. The wind played with my long, braided hair as the three of us tried to find a restaurant.

(William grabs Yumi's wrist and takes her into a bar)

Yumi: Ulrich? Aren't you coming?

Ulrich: I can't go in there, remember? I'm still considered a minor in this country.

Yumi: Wait a minute... William!

William: Uh oh... (Yumi grabs him by the ear and drags him out) Ow, that's the ear, that's my ear!

Yumi: You're just trying to get me alone, away from him, aren't you?

William: That is only the secondary reason. The primary reason was to get away from that jerk. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but ever since we left New York City, Ulrich has been a real jerk to me!

Yumi: Ulrich, is this true?

Ulrich: I'm trying to be honest; It was all your fault we nearly got into trouble back in the alley, you should of known better!

William: But we didn't. We escaped didn't we?

Ulrich: You're an idiot!

William: You're a big jerk-face!

I hated hearing their silly arguments. Just then Odd called, for some reason unknown to me.

Yumi: Hello?

Odd (on phone): Yumi, thank goodness you answered. We need to talk, something terrible has happened.

Yumi: Odd, you picked a bad time to call. Ulrich and Will are fighting and... (gasps) Oh no... We're in for a complete disaster!

Odd (on phone): Yumi, what's going on? What do you mean by complete disaster?

Yumi (very loudly): A hurricane is coming!

The two boys stopped arguing at once as they saw the hurricane. The people around us gasped in horror and ran for their lives. The rain and wind were falling and blowing down on us hard. Our clothes were immediately soaked.

Odd (on phone): Yumi, what's happening? (Yumi, Ulrich and William begin running)

Yumi: Odd, what's so important that... (she trips, causing her cellphone to short out from the puddles of water) Oh no.. my phone... Guys, we need to get back to the hotel, grab our stuff and get out of here!

Eventually, we got to our hotel room and grabbed our stuff, but by the time we finished packing, the entire city was flooded. Every building (except for the overcrowded airport) was partially or completely destroyed. We stood on the roof on the hotel we stayed in. We stood in the aftermath of a true disaster.

Yumi: Oh no... Look at this mess..

William (to Ulrich): What have we done?

Ulrich: It almost feels like me and William brought doom here by our endless bickering and competition.

William: Oh boy.. Where do we begin on where we stand?

Yumi: William, aren't you the optimistic type?

William: I am, but considering everything that happened, how am I going to be an optimist about this?

I looked at William to be the optimist during the bad times we had (and don't just mean me and him, but all of us here) but as I heard his words and watched the sun set on this bad day, I knew the optimistic William Dunbar was gone.

Yumi: What do we do now?


	4. We Meet the Locals

I hated to be a pessimist, but after we got into the situation we were in, I couldn't help it. Oh hello there. I'm William Dunbar. (Yes, I'm getting a POV in this story, and you haters are gonna have to deal with it.) As of right now, we were in a jam...

Yumi: What do we do now?

Ulrich: I don't know, Yumi. I don't know.

William: Well, I hate to be the pessimist, but I can't help it. Every building, except for the airport, has been partially or completely destroyed. And that includes the banks, hotels and ATMs.

Ulrich: ATMs aren't buildings.

William: Don't cloud the issue with facts! We don't have enough money to get us home. We're stuck here!

Yumi: No problem. You can contact Odd and tell him about the situation we're in, right?

William: My phone's dead.

Ulrich: Aw bugger! Mine's dead too! The electricity is also down, we can't charge em!

William: Well, it could be worse... (part of the building crumbles) I spoke too soon, didn't I?

Ulrich: Yes, you did. William, I blame you for this!

William: Me? How is this my fault?!

Ulrich/William: You idiot! You always ruin everything!/ You jerk... You always forget that I'm innocent!

1st Man: Do you guys need some help?

After hearing his voice, we stopped arguing at once. I saw three men, all in white lab-coats, pants, long sleeve grey shirts, shades and black dress all wore the same white hat. I noticed one of them wore a black headband, had black hair and two of them looked identical to each other.

William: Oh, yes please.

Ulrich: Hold the phone. Who are you guys?

1st Man: We're just some Louisiana locals down here in New Orleans.

2nd Man: We've lived here for as long as we can remember. We just got back from a vacation in New York City, and noticed what happened here.

3rd Man: We decided to look to for any survivors and see if we could help them out. So what's the matter?

Yumi: We don't have enough money to get back our home in Paris, France. Me and my.. friends here need to get back there a-sap.

2nd Man: Why, what happened?

Yumi: I don't know. He didn't have enough time to tell me before my phone shorted out. But whatever the reason was, if Odd called us during our vacation, it had to be important.

Ulrich: And who are you guys?

3rd Man: Oh, I'm Alex. These friends are the twin brothers, Tod and Ted.

Tod: Nice to meet you.

Alex: We'll pay for your entire flight and your bags.

Ted: We'll even go with you to make sure you arrive there safely.

William: Wow, you guys are too kind.

Ulrich: No way are we... (Yumi covers his mouth)

Yumi: We'll need a minute or two. (she drags him off, they huddle in a triangle with William on the left, Ulrich on the right, Yumi on the bottom) Ulrich, what are you thinking?! This is our ticket back home!

Ulrich: I don't trust those guys. Something's... not right about them. I know it!

William: Two things; Ulrich, you're crazy, and second, Yumi's right.

Yumi: And besides, what other choice do we have?

Ulrich: Alright. But I won't be happy until me and Yumi are home safe and sound. (they turn around and face the locals)

Alex: Do we have a deal?

William: Yes. Take us to Paris, France.

Alex: Your wish is my command.

Ulrich: Uh, one question; How do we get out of here? The whole city's been flooded.

Alex: Don't worry young men, we came prepared.


	5. Arise from the Ashes

Hey. Name's Ulrich Stern. I'm pretty much the rival of William, and one of Yumi's boyfriends. I actually enjoyed the long flight from New Orleans to Paris, France. But I knew something was off about those locals. I just couldn't figure out what it was. It was about 30 minutes before landing time, I heard a conversation between the locals in another room and chose to spy on them.

Ted: I think we should of given William more drinks.

Tod: I agree. He only got 100 mg about 15 minutes ago and we land in less than 30. The effects of the alcohol will wear off too quickly.

Alex: Don't worry. The poisoning should continue hours after we get off. Shortly after, we will knock out the minor twerp and take Yumi for ourselves! (Ulrich gasps)

Ulrich: Kidnap Yumi? Oh no... (the criminals surround him) Double oh no...

The next thing I knew, I was lying on the floor of the airport. I had no idea how I got there at all.

Ulrich: Ow... (he gets up) Where am I?

Yumi: Help! (he sees her being abducted by Alex, who is running away with Yumi over his shoulder)

Ulrich: Oh dang it! Where's William? I'll never be able to face them alone. (he sees William talking with some girls) William, we got trouble! Yumi's in danger!

William: Who are you, and what you mean yummy is... (Ulrich slaps him in the face repetitively as he speaks)

Ulrich: William, snap out of it! It's me, Ulrich, your rival. The locals tricked us and they've kidnapped the girl we fight over! (he shakes his head, Ulrich stops slapping him)

William: Yumi! Where are they?! (they start running)

Ulrich: Only a hundred feet from the entrance. We'll never catch em in time!

William: We can't, but you can. You're a soccer player, you have a faster speed than I do. Run to the gates and stop them! I'll say something to slow down the criminals and/or calm down the crowd of civilians!

I ran like I was on Lyoko about to try and get Aelita to deactivate a tower. This felt like the good old days, kinda...

(Ulrich runs in front of the entrance)

Ulrich: You're not going anywhere! I don't know who you are, but if you don't leave her alone, you will pay!

William: With your lives! (he surrounds them on the other side)

Ulrich: You're trapped. You have nowhere to go, so give it up!

Tod: Oh great. They caught up with us, boss. What now?

Ulrich: Who are you? Why are you doing this? My friends trusted you!

Tod: Prepare for trouble, which you're now in.

Ted: Make it double, in which you won't win!

Tod: To bring to this world chaos and war.

Ted: As great villains, we will always score. (Tod and Ted remove their disguises, revealing a royal purple uniform with a purple phoenix symbol on it)

Tod: Xavier!

Ted: Xever!

Alex: And the leader, William! (he removes his disguise revealing his uniform and his purple phoenix necklace)

Xever, Xavier, and William(PPG): We are the Purple Phoenix Gang! Listen closely to our taunt, cause we will always get what we want! (all three laugh in an evil manner, William gasps)

Ulrich: The Purple Phoenix?! You guys were arrested back in New York!

Xever: That's just what we wanted you to think.

Ulrich: Why would they follow us to New Orleans than to Paris?

William: They may be bad guys, but they're somewhat like me. They don't give up easily and they're not giving up Yumi without a fight. But mark my words, if you don't let her go, we'll rip you to shreds! Both of us!

William(PPG): I'd like to see you try! Ta-ta losers! (they throw a smoke bomb)

Yumi: Ahh! William! Ulrich! (the smoke clears and the criminals and Yumi are gone)

Ulrich: We've lost them!

William: Not for long. This way! (they run off)

We had to stop them! I knew something was off about the locals but I never suspected that they were the Purple Phoenix Gang in disguise! Me and William had to stop them, and if we failed to save her, Yumi was doomed for sure! Unfortunately, the criminals knew how to get away swiftly.

William: They've gotten away! Now what?

Ulrich: You got any bright ideas? (William sees some motorcyclists and their motorcycles)

William: Just one.


	6. What Have You Done, Dunbar?

We had been searching for Aelita for a few days now. We were getting nowhere. Nowhere fast anyway. I was worried that the world's most unlikely trio may have been dead. But I told myself to not jump to any conclusions. Once I heard what they had gotten themselves into, I concocted a plan. A brilliant plan.

(Jeremie is seen in a police uniform, and Odd is seen, leaning against the Eiffel Tower)

Odd: Are you sure this plan will work? (the sound of a van is heard in the distance)

Jeremie: Trust me, Odd. It will work. It has to work. If it doesn't the PPG will get away with Yumi! (he holds a stop sign up, the black van comes to a screeching halt, Odd hides and sees from a distance)

William(PPG): Is there a problem officer?

Jeremie (intimating a deep voice): Yes, there is a problem. Driving any kind of car, van or truck near the Eiffel Tower is strictly prohibited. And I've heard a lot of rumors that someone has secretly been hiding dangerous chemicals in the trunk of their car. Mind if I have a look in there?

Xever: Go right ahead. We have nothing to hide.

This seemed too easy.

 _Way too easy,_ I thought to myself. I looked in the trunk of their van, but I found nothing but a bunch of empty space. No sign of Yumi anywhere.

Jeremie (muttering in normal voice): There's nothing there... How could this be poss... (the trunk doors are slammed shut) Hey, what's going on?!

Xavier: Don't try and fool us! We know that you're friends with Yumi and those punk boyfriends of hers! (the sound of a motorcycle is heard, Odd opens the trunk door and the two blondes are surrounded by the criminals, they hear engine noises and see Ulrich riding on a motorcycle in with William, also on a motorcycle, right behind him, they skid and come to a stop)

Ulrich (taking off his helmet): End of the line, punks! (William takes off his as well)

William: Release Yumi or else! (Jeremie looks at them, squinting suspiciously)

Jeremie: William, Ulrich, how did you even get into this mess in the first place? (Yumi kicks open the door and steps out)

Yumi: It's a long story. We would explain it, if they would allow us to that is. (Yumi's ropes are untied by Ulrich, Xever looks at William(PPG) strangely)

Xever: Should we let them explain boss?

William(PPG): Why not? It'll be interesting...

One long story later...

Jeremie: So let me get this straight; Due to William's bad judgement, you went down a New York City alley, where the criminals known as the Purple Phoenix Gang saw you three and attempted to abduct Yumi. Then William tried to beat them, failed miserably, but you managed to escape, and presumed they were arrested. Next, they disguised themselves as locals of Louisiana, paid for your trip back home, got William drunk and tricked Ulrich just so that they could kidnap Yumi?

Ulrich: Pretty much, except for the fact that I was leery of the locals. I didn't figure out who they really were until it was too late.

William: Are you upset?

Jeremie: William, you should have known better. What were you thinking?! New York City is crawling with criminals like these! And alleyways like the one you met these guys in is like their turf! William, I never thought I'd say this, but you've acted like such a blockhead! This whole mess could of been prevented if you didn't suggest the idea of going down that alley! William Dunbar, I never thought I'd say this, but this mess is all, your, fault!

Odd: What have you done, Dunbar? What have you done?

William: I can't believe it... He's right... (he hangs his head in shame) What have I done?

William(PPG, laughing): Alright, now that the explanation and scolding are done and over with, we'll give you our ultimatum; Surrender Yumi and give her to us, or we will take her by force and kill all of you. (Yumi slowly backs away, William(PPG) smirks)

I knew we needed a plan, but I suddenly couldn't think of one. It was William's fault we got into this mess, and I was still mad at him... What were we gonna do?


	7. William VS William

Odd speaking. At that moment, I wish I had a plan to get us out of the mess William made. But alas, I had none.

William: Gentlemen, could you give us a minute or two to make our decision?

Xever: Why should we?

William: You're giving us a really hard time here,blackmailing us and all that.

William(PPG): Alright. We'll even be kind and give you three minutes, but no more.

(William, Yumi, Ulrich, Odd and Jeremie huddle up)

Odd: What was the point of that?

William: Don't worry, I have a plan. You, Ulrich and Jeremie will take down the twins, Xavier and Xever. Yumi, I know you're not going to like this, but you're going to be the bait. You need to lead William, the leader, away from the Eiffel Tower, and keep running til I catch up with him. After I beat him to the point of near-exhaustion, you'll sneak up on him and deliver the final bow, knocking him out and he'll be down for the count. Any questions?

Odd: The leader of the Purple Phoenix is named William?

William/Ulrich: Unfortunately.

Xavier: Alright, your three minutes are up! So what's it gonna be? Will you surrender?

William: Sorry, but we're not giving up Yumi without a fight.

William(PPG): I'm not surprised at your decision. You did say you didn't give up easily back at the airport. Attack! (they charge)

Yumi: Hey, punk William! (William(PPG) turns to look at Yumi) If you want me, come and get me!

(she begins to run, the leader follows her, and William also leaves)

Ulrich: I have a bad feeling about this. (Odd punches Xever in the face, Jeremie kicks him down, Xever gets back up, Xavier kicks Ulrich onto the Eiffel Tower, he gets up and dodges a punch to the face)

Odd: Relax, Ulrich. William's plan should work! (he throws Xavier onto the ground, he and Jeremie kick Xever onto the ground, Odd quickly ties them up) See, Ulrich? I told you, you have nothing to...

Yumi (off-screen): Ahh! Get your hands off me!

Odd: Uh oh...

We turned about 90 degrees south, and saw the evil gangster William abducting Yumi, while the honest good guy we know was trying to stop him.

(William jumps onto the two-floor boat, landing on the roof where Yumi is tied up, and William(PPG) is watching as William lands)

William: Let her go, you evil fiend! (he tries to punch William(PPG) in the face, but he dodges, and throws William onto the roof)

Ulrich: Shouldn't we be trying to stop William from getting away with Yumi? The very evil one obviously.

Jeremie: Normally, yes, but we'd never catch up with that boat. We'll just have to trust in Dunbar's ability to handle the situation.

Ulrich: I hate standing around not being able to do anything.

Odd: Someone's jealous. (Jeremie glares at Odd)

Jeremie: You're not helping.

(William gets up and kicks William(PPG)down, he is barely holding on to the ledge, William steps on his hand)

William: How do you like me now?

William(PPG): Don't you realize you're not good enough for her? I can see your past in your eyes. You've been troubled, tormented, and you thought you'd never get Yumi to be yours, especially with Ulrich always in your way.

Odd: Don't let him get to your head, William! Finish him off! (William(PPG)grabs William's ankle, throws him into the river and gets back on the roof, the others gasp)

Yumi: William! Oh no...

William(PPG): Relax, sweetness. The endless competition between Ulrich and William is over. (he puts his hand on her face) You're mine now!

William: Leave her alone... (he gets up onto the roof, points at Dunbar)

William(PPG): You just won't give up, will you?

William: Punk, if there's one thing I've learned in life, is that you can't ever give up! (he kicks William(PPG) down) That is for tricking me! (William punches him in the face) That is for getting me drunk! And this for kidnapping my girl! (he kicks him in the face into the river, and frees Yumi) Are you ok? I'm sorry, Yumi. It was a bad idea to use you as bait.

Yumi: I'm fine. Thanks to you, anyways. Don't be so hard on yourself. We've stopped them.


	8. The Rise and Fall of the Enemy

William: Yumi, can you ever forgive me? (he is on his knees)

Yumi: For what?

William: As much as I hate to admit it, Jeremie and Ulrich were right; This mess was all my fault. And when I was drunk, I was so cruel to you. I ignored your cry for help until Ulrich slapped me to my senses. I'm sorry, Yumi. I just acted... like... a fool.

Yumi: You may of acted like one, but you're not a fool. (she gets on her knees, looks into his eyes, and throws her arms around William) You're my hero, and you made up for your actions. Here, and in New York City. Never stop fighting, Will. (she kisses him, William blushes madly)

I gave William, a good, long, and as he said, overdue, passionate kiss on the lips. Afterwards, we met back up with our friends, and the police arrived to question us. One by one, we told our stories and we learned the reason why we were summoned back to France; Aelita had gone missing with no explanation as to why or how it happened.

Yumi: And that's what happened. (the two policemen look towards Jeremie)

1st Policeman: So, let me guess, you're still searching for your wife, aren't you?

Jeremie: Yes, officers. I still don't know what happened. (they drag Xever and Xavier along)

1st Policeman: Xever and Xavier Davis. Talk about double trouble. And what's the name of the leader?

Ulrich: We know his first name is William, but we don't know what his surname is.

William(PPG): It's Harrison. William Harrison, leader of the Purple Phoenix Gang, and I got nothing to say you.

2nd Policeman: Tell it to the judge, Harrison. (they put him and the twins in the backseat of the two police cars before slamming the door shut) We haven't found anything on the whereabouts of Aelita, but we'll keep looking.

Jeremie: Thank you officers... Please do... (the police cars drive off with their sirens)

Yumi: I still can't believe such a terrible thing has occurred!

Ulrich: How would it be possible?

Later that afternoon, after we returned the motorcycles the boys borrowed and got our suitcases back at our respective apartments, we went to Jeremie's house for a meeting on trying to figure out what happened to Aelita. We were sitting down on the two couches in his living room.

(Ulrich kisses Yumi on the lips)

Yumi: What was that for? No wait, let me guess; you were jealous of William being the hero.

Ulrich: Who told you that?

Yumi: A little birdie told me.

William: Ah-hem. I hate to interrupt, but didn't Jeremie call us for a specific purpose?

None of us were having any luck finding Aelita, and we discussed theories on where she might be. William thought she might of been in the Factory (if she was kidnapped like Odd suspected), but most of us didn't believe him.

Yumi: William, I want to believe you, but I find it really hard to...

Jeremie: If you want to, you can search the Factory to your heart's content, but I doubt you'll find anything.

Ulrich: They've probably torn it down by now.

William: Guess I'll just search the place myself. I'll call if I find anything. (he leaves)

Odd: What now?

Jeremie: I'll look at the news reports. In the meantime, feel free to lounge about.

I was exhausted, so I decided to lie down on the couch. It was so comfy that I was beginning to fall into sleep, and for a brief while, I was asleep. That is, until my phone vibrated.

(Yumi's phone vibrates, she slowly wakes up and answers it)

Yumi: Hello?

William (whispering on phone): Yumi, we have a Code Black situation. I repeat, Code Black. (Yumi gets off the couch)

Yumi: William, why are you so quiet?

William (whispering on phone): I didn't find Aelita, but I found someone/something worse.

Yumi: Someone worse? William, what do you mean?

William (whispering on phone): Well, you might call me crazy, but Xa...

Voice: Well, well, well, look who it is...

William (on phone): Oh no, she found me! I don't know how, but she found me!

Yumi: Who found you? William, what's going on?! What's happening?!

William (on phone, in a loud voice): Xana's returned! AHH! (the signal is lost)

Yumi: William? William?! Guys, we need to move to the Factory now!


	9. I Give Up Control to the Enemy

I should of realized Xana was nearby due to the unusual cold chill that crept up my shine and my arms, but I saw her only a few seconds too late. Now for Xana's appearance, first imagine a woman over 6 feet tall, wearing a long dress that covers her feet, black flats, and that she's wearing a necklace with the Xana symbol on it. Now picture the woman being made out of shadows, and her eyes show a red Xana symbol in them. If you have that image in your head, then you have the perfect idea of what Xana looks like. Her voice was melodic, yet sinister, like poisoned honey.

Xana: It's too bad you're all alone, William... Your friends won't come to save you. (William tries to punch Xana, but she dodges and kicks him down)

William: Don't try and trick me, Xana! It won't work! (he tries to kick her, but Xana turns into smoke, appears right behind William, and pushes him into the wall)

Xana: Who said I was trying to trick you? (she fires a lightning bolt from her fingertips, William barely dodges it, Xana kicks him into a metal post and she chains him up by using telekinesis to wrap the chain around him)

William: Someone, anyone! Help!

Xana: It's too late. You're all alone... (she walks towards him)

Odd (muttering): That woman... I've seen her before... But it can't be Xana... We defeated her.

Yumi (muttering): It looks like she wants to possess William. Oh no, not again...

Jeremie (muttering): How are we gonna stop her?

Ulrich (muttering): Why should we stop her? If she takes him, the endless competition between me and William will be over.

Yumi: Ulrich, knock it off! (Xana stops and turns to see Yumi, Ulrich, Jeremie, and Odd at the edge of the platform) I'm getting really sick and tired of you treating William like the enemy when he's not!

Xana: Interference? Oh come on!

Odd: Looks like our worst nightmare was come true. What do we do now?

Yumi: The only thing we can do; charge! (she runs towards Xana, but she easily dodges Yumi, the others charge, Jeremie falls and breaks his glasses)

Jeremie: Not again... (Ulrich tries to punch Xana, but his fist goes right through her)

Ulrich: Huh? (Xana creates shadow tentacles around her) Guys, we have a problem; we can't hit her! (Xana punches Odd into the wall)

Odd: But she can hit us! She's invincible!

Jeremie: That's impossible, Odd! She's got to have a weakness! We must keep fighting! (he gets up) Charge! (the Lyoko Warriors all charge towards her)

A while later...

(Jeremie, Ulrich, Odd and Yumi are trapped in the shadow tentacles)

Jeremie: Ok, she's invincible. (Odd whimpers)

Odd: We're dead. So very very dead. (Jeremie, Odd, and Ulrich are thrown into the wall by the tentacles, Yumi is beginning to choke by the tentacle coiling around her neck)

William: Yumi!

I had to do something to save her, but my hands were (literally) chained up. I knew what Xana wanted... But how could I give it to her?

Xana: Make up your mind. She's fading quickly! (Yumi is slowly running out of air)

At that moment, I came up with a plan. There was no guarantee it would work, but it was the only plan I had.

William: I surrender!

Yumi: Will... iam?

William: I'll become your servant, just let her go!

Xana: I knew this plan would work... (the tentacle loosens around Yumi's neck, Xana runs towards William)

Yumi: William! NO!

I heard her scream, and I felt the pain of 10 lightning bolts coursing through my body as Xana took over.


	10. Blindness

_What is he doing?_ I thought to myself as William was being possessed by Xana.

(Xana-William breaks free from the chains, William's eyes turn to Xana symbols)

Jeremie: How can any of this be possible?!

Xana-William: Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha! You don't get it, do you? You thought you were able to destroy me. You only weakened me. Thanks to you, I lost almost all my power, and had to spend a year in a dreamless sleep. But overtime, I've not only gained back most of my original power, but gained even more. I'm back and I'm stronger, faster, badder and better than ever! Prepare to face your doom!

(Xana-William blasts Jeremie and Odd into the wall with shadow beams, the shadow tentacle throws Yumi aside and then throws Ulrich onto the ground before disappearing)

I was struggling to remain awake, my strength was slipping from me fast...

(Yumi is backing away from Xana-William)

Yumi: No... please... William... It doesn't need to be like this!

Ulrich: Yumi! (he tries to stand up but is having difficulty doing so, Xana-William tries to fire at Yumi but nothing happens)

Xana-William: What's happening? (Xana screams in agony, William forces Xana out of his body and throws her into the wall, William punches Xana in the face, then kicks her down)

Ulrich: How is that possible?

Odd: What's going on? (he and Jeremie see William battling Xana)

We saw how William defeated Xana. Jeremie found it surprising and amazing. Odd was completely amused as well as Yumi, but I still questioned it. How could he of broken free just like that?

(William grabs Xana's wrists)

William: Doesn't feel so good to be on the other end, does it?

Xana (sarcastically): Very funny. Now let go of me!

William: I might, if you answer this question honestly; What have you done with Aelita Belpois?

Xana: Is that why you're here in the first place? (she chuckles) I haven't done anything. (everyone but Xana and William gasp)

I noticed that William loosened his grip on Xana's wrists.

 _William, you idiot..._

William: You haven't?

Xana: Come on, William. If I was lying, you would know it. I have not done anything to hurt her in any way. (he releases his grip)

Odd: Please tell me the wicked witch is lying.

William: Unfortunately, she's not. (Xana begins to form a yellow ball of energy without anyone noticing)

Ulrich: William, what's going on? How were you able to...? (Xana throws the ball at William's eyes, which knocks him down screaming in pain)

Xana: I don't have time to deal with you now, but let me tell you this; just because I haven't captured Aelita yet doesn't mean she won't eventually end up in my clutches! Your troubles are only beginning. Sayonara, losers! (she runs off, Ulrich attempts to catch her)

Ulrich: Come back here! (she disappears by turning into shadow and slipping through the walls, he hits his face on the wall) Ow... Dang it... Xana's on the loose!

Yumi: Ulrich, we have bigger problems at the moment. Xana's flash-blinded William, possibly even for good!

Ulrich: Really? How sweet! Maybe he'll finally give up on the competition. He's blind and can't see that I'm the only one for Yumi. (everyone gasps but Ulrich)

Yumi: Ulrich, that was just downright rude! Jeremie, Odd, take William to the hospital for treatment. I'm going to stay here and give Ulrich a perfectly good scolding.

Ulrich: Uh oh.. I went too far... (Jeremie and Odd carry William away, Yumi grabs Ulrich's shirt by the collar as he tries to get away)

Yumi: Ulrich Stern, listen to me. I'm getting extremely tired of you being excessively uncouth to William. He hardly ever does anything bad to you. You've treated him like dirt ever since he rejoined our group, and I'm getting sick of it. During this troubling time, you need to learn to trust William completely and be more courteous to him. If you can not do this, and/or you continue to treat William this way, I will leave you behind. Not only will you fail the competition, but I'll have to stop being friends with you, for good. Now I can't tell you what to do since I'm not your mother, but if I were her, I'd tell you to sit or stand in the corner and think about what you have said and done. Because if you can't see the good person William Dunbar truly is, then you're the one who's really blind.

(Yumi walks away, Ulrich is shown with a sad and worried look on his face)

I wanted to say something, but unfortunately, ever since I was a young boy up to now, I've never really been articulate. I fell to the ground in defeat. Yumi wanted me to trust William, but after that performance, where he could hurt and defeat Xana when the rest of us couldn't, I didn't think I could. I know she wanted me to trust William and be nicer to him, but how could I?


	11. Just a Year Ago

I will not lie, this is the worst valentine's day (and the worst day in general) of my life. Everything that happened today, from us still searching for Aelita to William being blinded by Xana was not supposed to happen at all. Just a year ago, I expected things to turn out for the better. I still recall almost everything that happened just a year ago...

February 14th, 2014, a Friday, Valentine's day, and the full moon all at once. A rare phenomenon. That's why me and Aelita chose that day to get married.

(Jeremie and Aelita are seen at the altar in the Notre-Dame, with a large audience in the rows behind them, including Franz Hopper and Anthea Schaeffer, Odd is shown in disguise as the priest Francis)

Odd (Francis voice): I now pronounce you man and wife, you may kiss the... (Jeremie kisses Aelita on the lips with passion) Bride? Uh, Jeremie, Jeremie?

(the flashback ends, Jeremie is shown sitting down on a bench next to Odd, Yumi is pacing)

Odd: Jeremie?!

Jeremie: Huh? Oh... It was just a daydream...

Odd: Still upset about losing Aelita?

Jeremie: It's not just that Odd. Today was supposed to be a great day, but so many things went horribly wrong...

Odd: A great day? Why would that be?

Jeremie: Odd, don't you remember what today is?

Odd: Saturday?

Jeremie: Aside from that?

Odd: Valentine's day? (Jeremie face-palms himself)

Jeremie: Come on, Odd! I know you're not the smartest person in the world, but you should remember what happened a year ago! You pretended to be the priest so the wedding could continue on without any delays!

Odd: Oh right! Your wedding anniversary with Aelita!

Jeremie: And she's not here to celebrate... (he sighs) A multitude of things have gone wrong...

Yumi: Oh, I hope William's ok...

Odd: She's been pacing like that for twenty minutes and counting... She is worried... (the doctor comes out, alongside William)

Yumi: Well doctor?

Doctor: I have good news and bad news. The bad news is we have tried everything we could to help William, and it didn't work. But the good news is, his vision came back to him on it's own, although a bit blurry. (Yumi, Odd and Jeremie sigh in relief) William, I'd advise you not to drive or operate machinery until this bluriness disappears and your vision is clear.

Yumi: Glad to see your ok, Will. (the doctor leaves)

William: Thanks, Yumi. Once I find You-Know-Who, I'm going to make her pay!

Yumi: We all will eventually, but I suspect it's getting late. Jeremie, what's the time?

Jeremie (looking at his watch): It is.. 6:55? Man, it's later than I thought... And we probably should eat something.

Odd: Don't worry, Jeremie. I know just where to go.

We walked about three blocks away from the hospital, and saw a nice cafe-style restaurant.

William: Coco's Cafe. Hmm...

Yumi: Certainly looks nice. (Jeremie turns to Odd)

Jeremie: You used to work here, didn't you?

Odd: Yes, I did. They'll recognize us.

After stopping by Coco's Cafe for dinner (which I ended up paying for), I went back home to continue solving the mystery on my own. I just didn't get it. First came love, then came the marriage, but I'm missing the baby in the baby carriage.

 _Wait a minute..._ I thought to myself.

They don't know of Aelita's conception! How am I supposed to tell them without worrying them too much or them getting really mad at me for keeping my mouth shut all this time?


	12. The Boss Twists My Arm

Now that Einstein's done living in the past, let me tell you about my job. I'm a chef at Lily's Gourmet By the Bay, commonly just called Lily's. I used to work at Coco's Cafe, but Sissi wanted me to (or rather, she made me) quit my job there and work for her cousin for a better pay.

Lily Delmas was a 26-year old business woman, the owner, founder and manager of her restaurant. She stands at 6 feet and 4 inches tall, with her black pixie cut hair, green eyes and pale skin. It was not difficult to see family resemblance, even if they were cousins. Lily commonly wore a long black skirt-long-sleeved white blouse dress and two inch black heels. She is single, and if provoked, she can be nine times worse than Sissi is when she's mad!

(Odd walks in with his hair flat, and in his chef's outfit)

Odd: It feels almost nice to be back in the kitchen after a few days. (Lily glares at Odd)

Lily: Della Robia! To my office, now!

Odd: Oh dear... (he walks into her office)

One of my friends, Grace, looked at me sadly as I entered the boss's quarters.

Grace (muttering): I hope he's not in too much trouble..

(Lily shuts her door, Odd sits down on one of the chairs, Lily looks at him scornfully from behind her desk)

Lily: Della Robia, would you care to explain why you have ditched work for the last two days in a row?

Odd: Ditched? I never ditched. Yesterday, and the day before I called in sick! (she opens her drawer and gets out a few photos)

Lily: Really? Then why did the busboy bring these photographs to me, telling me you ditched work for the last two days in a row? (she puts the photos on her desk, crossing her arms)

I looked at the pictures. The first one was me and Jeremie putting up posters to help find Aelita. The second one was of me, Ulrich and Jeremie after we defeated Xever and Xavier Davis, and the last one was the gang (minus Ulrich) at Coco's Cafe enjoying dinner.

Lily: Well?

Odd: Ms. Delmas, I can explain. Jeremie's wife, Aelita Belpois, has gone missing, and we've been trying really hard to find her. Just yesterday, three friends got back here but were trying to stop the two pictured criminals, Xever and Xavier Davis, along with William Harrison, from kidnapping our friend Yumi. For the first two days of the search, I was the only one, aside from the police, who could help Jeremie in this troubling time.

Lily: And have you found anything on Aelita's current location or her status?

Odd: Unfortunately, we have yet to find anything. Why do you ask?

Lily: Because from what you have told me, you and your friends are fighting for a lost cause. You should of been here yesterday, not fighting to save Yumi. Odd Della Robia, you are one of the primary chefs here, and there are only five primaries. Even if four primary cooks are here, business can still be very difficult. As punishment, you'll be working a double shift til 10pm for no extra pay. And..

Odd: And?

Lily: The busboy will leave early tonight, so you must do the dishes. And you can't leave until ALL OF THEM are done! And if you ditch work one more time, you'll be fired! If you ditch us without good reasons, how can we expect you to be there when your fellow cooks need you? Especially when a very important day is less than a week away?

Odd: Look, boss, I'm not joining a lost..

Lily: I don't care what you have to say about Aelita being missing, so zip it! Now get to your station, we open for business in five minutes! (Odd runs out of Lily's office)

I know she's been harsh and rude to some of her employees before (including me), but I never knew she could be this mean to her employees. My friends didn't know I was ditching work, but they wouldn't understand. Just like Lily didn't understand how bad the situation was... I sighed internally. She twisted my arm, or threatened me, for no good reason!


	13. Back at Kadic

It was 3:30pm the following day, and once again, we were all at Jeremie's house trying to figure out what was going on. Well, almost all of us...

Yumi: Where is Odd? I know he can be late..

Ulrich: He's at Lily's. He said he had to go back to the kitchen, otherwise his boss would question him.

William: I hope he's alright.

Jeremie: According to my semi-broken GPS tracker, which unfortunately, can't find Aelita's current location, Aelita was once at two different places; Kadic Academy and an old abandoned hotel nearby the Palais Garnier. Yumi, you and I will head back to Kadic, and the rivals will search the hotel.

Yumi: Uh, Jeremie... I know you're trying to prevent competition, but are you sure leaving those two alone to work together is a good idea?

Jeremie: Yes. They need to set their differences and rivalry aside and work together.

And so, we went to Kadic. I really didn't like Jeremie's idea, but I knew how much finding Aelita meant to him, so I shut my mouth and followed his lead. We also decided to sneak in and find what we were looking for (which was my idea-Jeremie didn't like it) and then quickly scram. We walked down the more deserted areas of the girl's wing, and eventually found the room we were looking for.

(Jeremie and Yumi see the door to Aelita's old dorm)

Xana (voice-over): You know that the group will fall apart eventually... So why even bother holding on? You'll never find Aelita! (the voice fades into evil laughter)

Yumi: Jeremie, did you hear that?

Jeremie: Nope. Not a thing other than our own voices. (Jeremie opens the door)

The terrible thing was... I feared the evil ghost was right. Or was I just losing my mind? As we walked in, the room was empty except for a bed with pink sheets, a pillow, a desk and a violin case with a name tag that read _Violet Gauthier_.

(Jeremie finds a few strands of pink hair)

Jeremie: Yep. Aelita was here alright.

Yumi: How can you tell?

Jeremie: Her hair almost always ends up on a pillow when she sleeps, and plus, she's the only one we know who has naturally pink hair.

Yumi: What about Anthea Schaeffer?

Jeremie: Don't you remember? She and Franz Hopper live in Ly.. (a purple-haired, blue-eyed girl opens up the door, seeing Jeremie and Yumi)

Girl: What the heck? Who are you people?!

Yumi: Look, there's no need to..

Girl: Jim! Mrs. Hertz! Someone! (Jim and Mrs. Hertz look into the room, seeing the girl)

Jim: What's the matter, Violet? (he sees Jeremie and Yumi) Well, well, well, up to your old tricks again, huh, Belpois?

Violet: You know these guys?

Jim: Of course we know em! They used to be students here!

Mrs. Hertz: Jeremie, what are you and your friend doing here?

Yumi: Look, Jim, Mrs. Hertz, we can explain.

One long story later...

Yumi: And that's what happened... We didn't mean to scare anyone. Jeremie thought this dorm room was empty.

Jim: I see, but next time, if you're going to do an investigation on Kadic grounds, tell us first!

Mrs. Hertz: Good luck in finding your wife, Jeremie. You're gonna need it.

Violet: Don't give up, Jeremie, you'll find her eventually!

Afterwards, we left Kadic Academy, and I tried to call William to see how progress was going on their side of the equation, but unfortunately, he wasn't responding.

Jeremie: Ulrich isn't answering either...

Yumi: Oh, I hope they're ok... I told you leaving those two alone was a bad idea!

Jeremie: Please, don't rub it in...


	14. Anticipation

I really did not want to work with Ulrich. As we tried to find our way to the Palais Garnier, I thought to myself, _Great. Just great. Countless idiots, and I get stuck with the jealous jerk._ I honestly didn't see why Yumi liked him, but I tried to keep my mouth shut and avoid arguments with him. He was supposed to be a friend, but he was closer to a frenemy. _Could this get any worse?_

Ulrich: Well, this is the Palais Garnier, so we're in the right place. But I don't see any hotels around here, much less a deserted one.

William: Didn't Jeremie say it was a few blocks away from the Palais Garnier?

Ulrich: I thought he said we could see it from here. Do you remember the name of the place?

William: I think it was called "Je t'amie Paris Resort and Spa", or something similar to it.

Ulrich: I found it. (he points to a deserted hotel) Je t'amie Paris Report and Spa. (he tries to open the door) Of course, it's locked. Now I really wish Odd was here...

William: Maybe we don't need to pick a lock. We can just sneak in!

Ulrich: William, are you crazy? We could get in trouble!

William: Do you have any better ideas? And besides, we've faced way worse.

Ulrich (sigh): Alright. We'll sneak in.

Eventually, I found a backdoor that we used to get in. We looked through every room on the 1st floor and we realized it was taking too long to find any trace of Aelita. We called for her name every once in a while, but there was no response. We were speaking to empty air.

William: This is taking forever. We should split up. I'll search the 2nd and 3rd floors, you can cover the 4th and 5th floors, contact me if you find anything suspicious or find Aelita's trace.

Ulrich: Alright. (he runs over to an elevator and steps in, William begins to run up the stairs)

William: Aelita! Where are you?

I looked through all the stairways, hotel rooms, and almost everything else. Eventually, there was one room I didn't look at which I still needed to search; the 3rd floor pool and hot-tub area. I walked in, and didn't find anything. I stared at the water in the pool, feeling like a failure, but then the strangest thing happened...

(William looks into the water, and sees a red-cloaked figure running past the hotel late in the night)

Figure: Can't let.. her.. catch me.. (the vision ends)

William: That voice... is so familiar..

I put my hand into the cold, somewhat dirty water. It didn't seem like there were any unnatural energies in the water, so where was that vision coming from? I wanted to muse to myself and come up with a logical answer for this, but unfortunately, I didn't have the time to do so.

(William gets a cold chill)

William: No, it can't be... (he turns around, seeing Xana) Xana!

Xana: Well, well, well, look what we have here... Where's your girlfriend?

William: She's not here. Not anywhere in this building.

Xana: Aw, that's a shame. I was hoping to finish you two off today. Oh well, I guess just destroying you will be enough! (she begins to form a ball of dark energy)


	15. Encounters With the Enemy

Author's Notes:

-Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you've stuffed your faces with as much turkey, potatoes and other Thanksgiving related foods as your heart desires! Now time for an update!

I looked through the 4th and 5th floor, but I didn't find anything. I didn't understand how I could work with and trust a secretive, untrustworthy Casanova guy like William.

 _That incompetent idiot..._

How did she end up falling for him in the first place? I knew how they started dating. Behind my back. I was about to flashback to the discovery when the floor began to crumble around me.

(Ulrich falls onto the floor and into the dirty pool water, he hears voice)

Xana (voice): It's quite a shame. Who knew I would be trying to destroy you one day?

William (voice): You'll never take me down, Xana!

I hid in the dirty pool water, which was only 3/4 full, so they wouldn't see me. I didn't really want to help him unless it was necessary, and also I didn't want to go blind from one of Xana's attacks, so I didn't dare watch the fight.

Xana: I thought I heard something... I sense an intruder... (she throws a ball of white energy into the water, Ulrich is sent flying, he screams and falls onto the floor)

William: Ulrich? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be searching the higher floors. (Ulrich groans)

Ulrich: I found nothing. And judging by the fact that Xana's here, if Aelita had come here, she would of been caught, assuming Xana didn't already catch her that is.

Xana: Still haven't found her yet. Aelita took great measure to avoid this place. (Xana's hand glows black and a black screen of shadows is shown, it shows Xana being beaten by William) After I was discovered and defeated by William, I knew I would have to find a new lair, so I retreated here and tried to lure some of you guys into a trap. (she throws a black ball at William, he barely dodges, Ulrich throws a bunch of towels at Xana, he and William begin to run)

William: Why are we running? (they run down the stairs)

Ulrich: It's a trap. For some reason, Xana wants to destroy you. But it doesn't make much sense. You were Xana's "willing" and loyal slave for a long time.

William: Maybe it's because I'm the only one who can hit her.

Ulrich: That's feasible.

William: We need to warn the others! (they exit through the backdoor, Ulrich's phone beeps)

Ulrich: Jeremie sent us a text telling him to meet at the Factory. Let's go!

We met up with Jeremie and Yumi at the factory. Odd, who was still at work but got a brief respite, communicated with us via a speaker in Jeremie's phone.

Odd (speaker): Looks like I'm not the only one who has it rough today.

William: Odd, try being in my shoes for a day and see what happens.

Jeremie: Aside from the factory and hotel, have any of you seen or heard Xana? Even if it's only in your dreams.

Odd (speaker): No. My dreams have actually been peaceful since Xana showed up. Weird, huh? Why?

Jeremie: Yumi claims she heard the voice of Xana while we were at Kadic.

William: Oh, then, no.

Jeremie: What about you Ulrich? Any other encounters with Xana? Ulrich?

(Ulrich is seen close to drowning in the Seine River, someone grabs his hand and pulls him out, Yumi is seen)

Ulrich: Yumi? Is that you?

Yumi: Oh, Ulrich. That's just what you'd want to believe. But things aren't always... (she turns into Xana) what they seem to be.

Ulrich: Xana!

Xana: Hey there, Ulrich. Miss me?

Ulrich: What are you doing here?

Xana: Relax Ulrich. I did not come here to hurt you.

Ulrich: Then why would you be saving me from a nightmare?

Xana: Because, I want to tell you something. You remember how William was able to defeat me back at the Factory? And how you believed he was hiding something? Something important..

Ulrich: Yeah. What about it?

Xana: I came to tell you that you're right.

Ulrich: I.. I am?

Xana: Of course you are. You may not realize it,but you have a special can sense evil and darkness around you.

Ulrich: I can?

Xana: Sure. How else did you become so leery of the locals when William and Yumi were completely fooled by them? But nevertheless, he is hiding something important. Something very important...

Jeremie: Ulrich? (the flashback ends)

Ulrich: Huh?

Jeremie: Did you or did you not encounter Xana aside from the encounters here and at the hotel?

Ulrich: No, I didn't.

I didn't want to tell them about my dream, because if they did know ,they would say I'm crazy or even worse. I knew William was hiding something, but what was it? To find out the truth, I had to keep my mouth shut. For now.


	16. Boulevard of Broken Dreams

It was a week after Aelita had gone missing. In real life, she was missing, but in my dreams, she was right by my side.

(flashback, over one year ago, Jeremie is seen in a very formal white tuxedo with a blue bow tie, a knock is heard on the door of the room)

Jeremie: Come in. (Aelita walks in, he sees her in a white wedding dress, long white gloves, with her long pink hair down)

Aelita: Hello Jeremie. I know it's against tradition for the bride to see her groom before the wedding, but I just had to ask you, how do I look?

Jeremie: Aelita, my angel.. You look like a queen. But where's your veil?

Aelita: My stylists are going to put it on after they do my hair.

(a knock on the door is heard, Odd walks in)

Odd: Oh, Aelita,didn't expect you to be here. Uh, Jeremie, someone wants to talk to you. (Aelita leaves, Odd hands Jeremie his phone)

Jeremie: Hello?

Francis (on phone): Hello, is this Jeremie Belpois?

Jeremie: Yes, this is the guy you're looking for.

Francis (on phone): I'm afraid I have bad news for you and Aelita.I won't be able to make it to your wedding.

Jeremie: What? Why not?!

Francis (on phone): Normally, I wouldn't do this,but my mother is terribly sick. As her only child, I'm the only one who can take care of her in her old age.

Jeremie: What about your father or whoever her husband is?

Francis (on phone): My mother is a widow. My father died in a car accident. But anyway, there's no way I'll be able to make it for another week.

Jeremie: Have you forgotten the wedding is tonight?

Francis (on phone): No,I haven't. I'm really sorry, Jeremie. I need to go, my mother needs me. Goodbye.

(he hangs up)

Jeremie: Francis? Francis? Oh man..

Odd: What's the matter?

Jeremie: The priest ditched us. He can't come to the wedding.

Odd: What? Why not?

Jeremie: He's the only one who can care for his sick mom. Now who will be there when me and Aelita step up to the altar?

Odd: Don't worry, we should be able to find another priest, right?

110 minutes later...

Jeremie: We've been looking for another priest for almost 2 hours. They're all on vacation, already booked for another wedding, or preoccupied by something else. This is a disaster... We'll have to cancel the wedding!

Odd: We can't cancel the wedding. I'm not letting your special day be ruined. We'll find a way out of this sticky situation.. Somehow..

Jeremie: The wedding is supposed to start in less than two hours! We'll never find another priest in time! Odd? Are you listening?

Odd: I'm listening. I think I may have thought of a solution to this problem.

(the alarm rings, ending the flashback, Jeremie turns off his alarm clock and gets out of bed, yawning loudly)

Jeremie: That's a bit weird. Normally I wake up to a good dream. Oh well. The nightmare is still very much real.

I got dressed and met up with my friends at the park. They still didn't know about the secret, but I asked myself once again what I myself for days; how am I supposed to tell them the truth when we've been out of contact for so long?

William: Well, it could be worse...

Odd: Lily is being very harsh on me... (sigh) I just wish she'd understand the situation.

Woman: What situation? Oh you mean the mystery you and your friends are trying to solve? (she appears before them, nearby a tree, they stop upon reaching her)

Ulrich: Um, Odd, who is she?

Odd: Friends of mine, this is my boss, Miss Lily Delmas.

Lily: Found anything?

Odd: Not very much, but just you wait, Ms. Delmas,we're gonna find her.

Yumi: She knows about the situation?

Odd: Well, she knows Aelita is missing, and nothing more than that.

Lily: I still say it's pointless, but you have until 1:00 this afternoon to help them.

Jeremie: Pointless?!

Odd: Uh, Jeremie, you're not going to like hearing this, but, she deems this mystery of finding Aelita is nothing more than a lost cause.

As soon as I heard those words, I felt my anger boil and erupt. Despite the fact that I was not under Xana's possession, (although I probably easily could have been) I charged at Lily, ready to hurt her.


	17. Disconnected

Without any warning, an angry Jeremie charged at Lily.

(Jeremie punches Lily in the mouth, knocking out one of her teeth, he kicks her in the stomach, knocking her to the ground)

Lily: Ow!

Jeremie (angrily): A lost cause, huh? I'll show you what a lost cause is! (William grabs his right arm, Ulrich grabs his left) Let me at er, let me at er!

Odd: Jeremie, calm down! I know you're mad, but is that any reason to punch my boss in the mouth and kick her down hard? (Odd helps Lily up) Are you ok, boss?

Lily: Ugh.. That man is mad! Mad, I tell you!

William: I don't know why you're such a pessimist, but we will never give up on finding Aelita! No good person is ever a lost cause! (Lily starts dialing a number)

Lily: Yes, this is Lily. (muffling is heard) Listen, I need you to take my place as manager until I come back. (muffling) I need to see a dentist... (muffling) Because I was punched in the mouth by a crazy violent nerd! Ow... (muffling) If all goes well, I should be back by 3:30 and no later, alright? (muffling) Thanks, Diana. You're a lifesaver. Ow... (she clutches her jaw) I better go. Goodbye. (she hangs up)

Odd: What's going on?

Lily: My sister Diana will be taking my place while I'm at the dentist. You better behave while I'm gone. (she groans as she walks off) Jeremie, you'll regret this one day!

Ulrich: Man, and I thought Sissi was bad several years ago.

William: I still say Xana's worse.

Later on at work, I told my friend Grace why Lily was so mad when she returned at 4:30. Gracia Baudin,who likes to be called Grace, is a really nice friend. She is a waitress at Lily's, and she is really sweet. She is optimistic, bright and hardly ever snaps at anyone. She has short brown hair, hazel eyes, and fair skin. Aside from Sissi, Yumi, and Aelita, she is the only girl in my contacts list and I can memorize her number.

Lily (grumbling): Ow... My mouth.. still hurts. That Madman is gonna pay big time!

Grace: What happened to Lily?

Odd: It's kinda a long story.

I explained to her about the mystery (not counting Xana obviously) and what happened this morning between Jeremie and Lily. He really went overboard.

Grace: Lily shouldn't be so down in the dumps. I believe you and your friends will find Aelita in no time flat!

Odd: Thanks for your optimism, Grace. I'm glad to have a good friend I can confide in at a time like this.

Grace: It's the least I can do. Besides, even after I go to L.A., we'll still be friends that have each others backs, right?

Odd: Of course we will. We're in this fight til the end!

Lily: What are you two doing?

Grace: We're just having a friendly conversation, Ms. Delmas.

Lily: Well, I would appreciate it if you didn't dilly-dally around and service the customers.

Odd: What customers? Aside from the critic, nobody's here. Whoever is serving him is doing an extremely good job providing service to him all by himself.

Lily: Keep laughing, the dinner rush is soon to start. (Odd's ringtone plays)

Odd: Oh no. Who could be calling at this hour? (he answers it) Hello?

Ulrich (on phone): Hey, Odd, where are you?

Odd: At Lily's, who is glaring at me in a very evil way.

Ulrich (on phone): Why? What did you do to make her mad?

Odd: I don't know. I'm just trying to do my job as best as I can and be there for my friends when they need me. Is it too much to ask?

Ulrich (on phone): Do you think you could get down to the Factory?

Odd: Fat chance. The dinner rush is soon to start, there's no way I can leave. (Lily takes Odd's phone)

Lily: Listen, I don't know who you think you are, but don't call Della Robia during business hours.

Ulrich (on phone): Odd, what's going on?

Lily: Oh, you're just one of The Madman's friends. Figures. (she hangs up) I'll be taking this for the remainder of your shift.

Odd: What? Why?

Lily: If your no good friends keep calling you during business hours, how can I expect you to remain focused? Don't worry, I'll give it back when your shift is over at 9 o'clock.

Odd: But that's over three hours from now!

Lily: You need to be focused, Della Robia. And that mystery is still unsolvable. Baudin, get ready to serve the customers, it's five minutes til the dinner rush starts! Della Robbia, back to the kitchen with you! It's five minutes til six! Get moving! (Grace and Odd run off in different directions)

Odd: Well, Odd, it could be worse..

After a very long, very busy dinner rush, I went to the office to ask Lily for my phone back. Her door was unlocked, but employees aren't supposed to go in without her permission or when she's not there. But I also needed to contact my friends and tell them what was going on. I checked to make sure the coast was clear, and I went in. The room was dark, but I couldn't risk turning on the light and getting caught.

(Odd walks around, sees a box labeled "Employee Phones", opens it and gasps)

Odd: Oh no...

I looked into the box and saw my phone broken into pieces. But who could of done this?


	18. The Letter of Distress

Ok, I bet a lot of you are wondering how I hooked up with or even fell for Will in the first place. Well you're about to get some of those answers. It actually started a long time ago. It was almost three months since my 11th grade year at Kadic started. I was 15 years old, and it was also about five months since Xana was defeated. Or so we thought for many years... It was late afternoon, classes were over, and dinner at Kadic would be served in less than an hour. 30 minutes to be exact.

(flashback, roughly five years ago, Yumi and her friends are seen standing or sitting on a bench, Jim is running very fast towards Yumi, he trips on an untied shoelace and falls on the ground)

Jim (panting): Letter... very important... for Yu..

Yumi: Woah, Jim. Slow down. What's going on? (Jim slowly gets back up)

Jim: Do you have any water? (Odd gives a water bottle to Jim, he takes a big gulp) Thank you. Yumi, that letter is very important. The sender told me you must read it at once.

Aelita: Who sent it to her?

Jim: A young 11th grade boy named Sammy Andrews. I don't know what's going on, but he said this letter had to reach her eyes asap.

(Jim leaves, Yumi opens her envelope and begins to read the letter)

Odd: Well, what does it say?

Yumi: It says,

 _"Dear Yumi Ishimaya,_

 _I know that you may not know me, but I want you to read this entire letter before you disregard or discard it. My name is Samuel Andrews, sometimes called Sammy or Sam._ _I'm a new student at Kadic Academy, so you probably don't know me, but you do know my roommate. His name is William Dunbar."_ William?

Ulrich: It can't be good news if it involves William.

Jeremie: Ulrich, let her finish reading before you make a comment. Sorry Yumi, please continue.

Yumi: Ok, continuing on.

 _"Look, I honestly don't know how you feel about him. I don't know what happened between you two, but I want you to talk to him. He's been acting weird since the first day of 11th grade, and I know for a fact that he wasn't always like this. Some of his weird behavior includes but is not limited to: withdrawal from everyone (including family and friends), never speaking or hardly speaking at all, always appearing sad, pessimistic and hopeless, strange sleeping patterns, waking up in the middle of the night to a nightmare and I believe he's lost his appetite. I'm getting more and more worried about him each day. Normally, I would talk to a counselor about this kind of problem, but I don't think that a counselor would be able to help him. I know that he's fallen into a depression, but that's not why I'm writing this letter to you. Here is why I'm writing this letter: I'm worried that William Dunbar is going to commit suicide!"_ William?!

Jeremie: Oh no.. William commit suicide? Why would he do such a thing?

Aelita: I don't know. Maybe the note will tell us.

Yumi: _"I don't know what he's been through, and I don't have to know, but I know one thing for certain: whatever trouble he's been through, he didn't deserve it. I know that you were friends with him at one point in time. And oh, I don't know... Maybe he was something more?_ _Anyway, I hope you can help him out, because I don't want to lose my roommate, or a potential friend._

 _Sincerely, Sammy Andrews_

 _P.S-If you have a habit of reading letters out loud, don't read this in front of Ulrich. If he's really crazy for you like William says he is, he could get jealous."_ Whoops.

(Ulrich is growling softly)

Aelita: So what are you gonna do?

Yumi: Isn't it obvious? I have to find William and talk him out of it! (she runs off)

Ulrich: Yumi, wait!

I didn't even dare stop to listen. Tears began to sting my eyes and my face was probably flushing red. I wasn't sure, as I didn't have a mirror, but I didn't really care. But I knew three things were certain; The first was that I really loved William. Second, I knew I couldn't run away from William (or my feelings for him) any longer. And third, and most importantly, if I wanted to save him, which I did, I had to run right to him!

Odd (voice): Yumi? Are you paying any attention at all? (the flashback ends, they are seen in the Factory)

Yumi: Huh? Oh! I'm sorry. Did I miss something?

Jeremie: Yes. Odd told us that his phone is broken.

Yumi: What? That's awful! Who would do such a thing?

Jeremie: Odd believes that Lily, Xana, or Nickolas Poliakoff, the busboy who works for Lily, could be responsible for the destruction of his phone. I highly doubt it's Xana though.

Ulrich: And why do you think Xana didn't do it?

Jeremie: Because if Xana was behind it, she would of destroyed all of our mobiles, and not just Odd's phone. If Xana managed to do that, it would break all communications between us and make this mystery much harder to solve.

Yumi: You make a good point there.

Shortly after I said that, I couldn't help but get flashbacks...

(Yumi is riding her Overwing, chasing after Xana-William on his manta, he throws a sword attack at her, Yumi falls toward the digital sea until she is devirtualized by Odd's laser arrows, Yumi is shown standing at the edge, Xana-William strokes her face, then pushes her off the edge of a desert sector cliff, Yumi grabs his wrist, they fall towards the Digital Sea, Xana-William is electrically shocked in the polar region and falls into the Digital Sea)

I will admit that after he fell into the Digital Void in the last flashback, I felt somewhat sad and began to feel guilty for what happened. I thought to myself, _William..._  
 _Where did all the good times go? Where is the William Dunbar I know?_


	19. Hurry Up and Save Me

I was remembering the evening of one of the best and worst days of my young life. The evening me and Yumi hooked up. After going through so much pain for nothing, I was just about ready to throw in the towel and kick the bucket.

(flashback, roughly five years ago, William holds a knife with his right arm)

William: I better just get this over with.. (he is about to stab himself, but Yumi comes running towards William)

Yumi: William, no! (she grabs William's wrist, he accidentally drops the knife, which cuts Yumi's right wrist) Ahh...

William: Yumi, what are you doing here? I thought you were just enjoying time with Ulrich...

Yumi (as she throws her arms around William): William, don't do it... Please. I know you're trying to kill yourself. Don't do it...

William: How did you know I was about to commit suicide?

Yumi: William... I got a note from your roommate, Sammy. Will, I can't lie to myself anymore!

William: Yumi, what are you... (she lets go of him, then holds her hand to William's face)

Yumi: William, I.. I love you.

William: You do?

Before I knew it, she kissed me on the lips. She blushed madly, and threw her arms around me. I closed my eyes and returned the kiss. Somehow, I could tell that this was really Yumi, and that she was sincere in her love for me. But it almost seemed like a dream... How could it be real? Eventually, we broke this kiss for air, and I looked at Yumi completely confused.

William: But if you love me, why didn't you say anything?

Yumi: I was in denial. Also, I didn't realize how great you were until after Xana took control of you. You're hot, you're funny, you're so sweet and generous, and unlike Ulrich, you don't get very jealous or envious. I always thought he was the right one, but he's just too...

William: Hesitant?

Yumi: You read my mind. Do you mind keeping this secret from the others, including Ulrich? I'm not sure if they're ready to know this news.

William: I suppose not. And um, Yumi? Do you think you could get me back into the group, now that Xana's been defeated?

Yumi: I can try, but I don't think I can make a promise just yet.

William: It would be nice to be able to hang out with them again. You not being by my side wasn't the only reason I nearly killed myself. There were a lot of reasons.

Yumi: Like what?

William: Well, my parents were mad at me for a certain amount of time, my grades slipped,I had no friends at all,still remembered everything that happened while under Xana's control, and many more. Want me to continue?

Yumi: I think that's more than enough reasons. I'll try and find a way to get you into the group, but I should probably get home before my parents freak. (she kisses him on the cheek) And don't worry, this relationship will be our little secret. Until tomorrow, my love. (she runs off)

Yumi really did save me from myself. My pessimistic, gloomy, lonely self. The next day, during our swimming class, she was being questioned quite a bit. Mostly by our teacher.

Jim: Yumi, how did you end up cutting your wrist? (he points to the white bandage over Yumi's right wrist)

Yumi: Uhh.. It's a long story.

William: And she'd rather not talk about it.

Her eyes said a quick, "Thank you, William." before we turned our attention back to Jim. Ulrich still gave me strange and mean looks, but at that time I had no idea why. Maybe it was because (unbeknownst to me) he was also Yumi's boyfriend.

(the flashback ends, The Lyoko Warriors, minus Aelita are on the ground floor of the factory)

Alas, we still had no clue where Aelita was. At least my fans weren't expecting much from me anytime soon. Ok, you probably don't know this, but I'm an author/poet on the road to success. Sadly, business has been going slowly after I finished my book series called _Code: Danger_ , a big hit for science-fiction fans. After I finished the final book however, I've been having writer's block for almost three months. Ten weeks and three days to be exact. But since Odd had til noon to get to work, we once again met up at the Factory Floor at 10:30am. I don't think anyone told you this, but the elevator was completely busted, so we just had our meetings in the lobby.

Ulrich: I knew it was Lily!

Odd: It was her.. That no good witch!

Ulrich: Odd, Lily is ten times worse than Sissi. Why are you even working for her in the first place?

Odd: Because, Ulrich, about 20-40% of the money in my paycheck goes towards Sissi's dream of opening her boutique. And as you already know, she is still in college, and doesn't have the time for a job like I do. Plus, working at a high-class restaurant like Lily's will help me become a renowned chef in France. If I get fired, not only will our dreams be crushed, Sissi will also be very angry with me! I'll continue working there, even if she came up with insulting titles for all four of you.

William: Insulting titles?

Odd: Unfortunately, Lily calls you guys The Troublemakers. (points to Jeremie) "The Madman" (Jeremie is shown with a shocked face, Odd points to Ulrich), "Fighting Failure" (Ulrich growls, Odd points to Yumi) "The Defenseless Damsel in Distress"...

Yumi: What?! I am not a damsel in distress! (she growls loudly)

Odd: And last but not least (Odd points to William) "The Hopeless Hero".

William: How dare she insult me like that! She needs to be arrested!

Odd: Isn't that kinda harsh?

Yumi: She broke your phone, insulted all four of us, treats most of her employees badly, including you, and she wants to crush Jeremie's hopes of finding Aelita! She deserves more than being arrested. Frankly, I believe she deserves death!

Odd: Ok, now you're just being cruel. You're taking this way too seriously! (Yumi pounces on Odd, attempting to beat him up) Hey! Cut it out!

William/Ulrich: Oh no.../Oh dear...


	20. Wool Over My Eyes

I knew Xana couldn't be trusted, but I never trusted William either. I remember the night I got Yumi to be all mine. Or so I thought. She fooled me because (even though I didn't know it until later) she hooked up with William right before she met back up with me on Kadic Grounds.

(flashback, about 5 years ago)

Ulrich: Yumi, are you ok?

Yumi: Yeah, I'm fine. You seem to be concerned.

Ulrich: Yumi, I.. I am concerned, because, I.. I love you.

Yumi: You..you do? But why didn't you...

Before I knew it, I leaned in and kissed her. She was somewhat hesitant, but she kissed me back, blushing madly. I knew she couldn't resist me.

Yumi: Ulrich.. I love you too.. But why have you been so hesitant all this time?

Ulrich: I don't know. It was always Xana's attacks, William or my stupid jealously and cowardice always got in the way.

Yumi: Ulrich, do you think that we could keep this romance just between us, and not let the others know?

Ulrich: Uh, sure. But why?

Yumi: I just.., don't want to tell them right away. And, I know you're not going to like this, but tomorrow I'm going to ask the rest of the gang if William can rejoin us, now that Xana's been defeated.

Ulrich (sarcastically): Oh really? Fantastic. That's just great.

Yumi: Well, after we kicked him out of our group, he had no friends. That's one of the many reasons he nearly killed himself. If he joins the group and sees us together... I just don't think he could handle the truth, alright?

Ulrich (sigh): Alright. He can join if the others will let him in, but I'm not gonna be happy about it.

Yumi: You don't have to. And don't worry, William won't get in between our relationship. I promise.

(flashback ends)

Alright, I think that sums up my get-together with Yumi many years ago. Now for the strange dream and, unfortunately, next encounter with the enemy.

Yumi: You're the one who's really blind. (it turns pitch black)

Ulrich: What the? Hey, what's going on?! (someone takes a black blindfold off Ulrich's eyes)

Xana: William still pulling the wool over your eyes, huh, Ulrich? (she is seen with the blindfold) Quite a shame really.

Ulrich: Xana? What are you doing here this time?

Xana: Found out anything about William's secret?

Ulrich: No, nothing. I've questioned him once or twice, but he's in denial. He won't say a thing. But seriously, why are you here? (Xana turns into smoke, then stands close to Ulrich)

Xana: You know, William isn't the only one who's pulling the wool over everyone's eyes. (she pulls the blindfold over Ulrich's eyes temporarily) Jeremie is hiding something very important as well.

Ulrich: What? Jeremie? But he's so honest! And certainly a lot more trustworthy then you and William combined! (Xana walks around him)

Xana: I'm not surprised at your reaction. In fact, I expected nothing less. (she hands Ulrich a notepad and a black pencil)

Ulrich: What's this for?

Xana: When you wake up, you'll find that notepad and the pencil you have in your hands somewhere in your room. Use the materials and take note of Jeremie's behavior. If you pay close enough attention, you'll see that he is hiding something. (she gives Ulrich the black blindfold) And in a way, you're the only one who isn't blind. See you later, alligator..

(she disappears into smoke, laughing as she does so, Ulrich wakes up)

Ulrich: It can't be true. Xana had to be lying.. (he sees the notepad and pencil from his dreams on his desk) Alright, Xana, I'll try out your little challenge. But I still don't believe you.

I looked at the date on the calendar. February 20th, 2015. Today,Odd was supposed to have the day off, but tomorrow, he would be very busy. He said some kind of special event would be going on at Lily's tomorrow as part of the restaurant's one-year anniversary. Every employee had to be there. If they didn't have a legitimate reason for being absent, Odd said she would fire them. I grabbed a pair of black shorts, a green t-shirt, alongside my green sneakers and the materials Xana gave to me and headed out.

 _I know Xana can't be trusted, but why do I continue to listen to her?_


	21. The Wedding

In my next dream, I actually recalled the wedding ceremony, a few moments before it, and the aftermath where Odd was (almost) arrested.

(flashback, Jeremie and Aelita's wedding day, February 14th, 2014, Jeremie is standing in the hallway with Odd off-screen in a nearby room)

Jeremie: I seriously doubt this will work. No one will believe you're really Father Francis.

Odd (off-screen): Just trust me, Jeremie. It can't be that hard to pretend to be a priest, especially for something as simple as this. (Odd enters the room) Well Jeremie, how do I look?

Jeremie: On second thought, you do like almost exactly like Francis. I may stand corrected. Ok, the secret of you being the priest is just between you and me. I'll tell the others that you got terribly sick and couldn't make it. In the meantime, follow the directions and rehearse for your role. This wedding begins in an hour!

Odd looked just like Francis after we did a "little" makeover. He wore a grey wig, a makeup artist made his face look like that of a 45 year old man (that's how old Francis was at the time), he wore his white alb (a robe that priests wear) and, you might not believe this, but he wore heels under the robe because Father Francis was very tall for a guy his age.

Odd (off-screen): Well, I feel ridiculous, but it's for Jeremie and Aelita.

The Notre-Dame was very crowded that evening. At 5:30, the sun had already set, and most of the guests, such as Ulrich, Yumi, William, Sissi and many others had already came. Then came the actual wedding. I heard a few conversations as I walked up towards the altar.

William (to Yumi): Do you think our wedding will be this grand should we ever get to this point in our lives?

Ulrich: Don't get so cocky, William.

(Anthea and Franz Hopper are shown smiling)

Anthea: You know, I never thought I'd be able to see the day my little girl gets married to the love of her life.

Franz: I never thought I'd even see you again, my dear. I am glad that we are both wrong.

Sissi (scratching her head): Where the heck is Odd? (Aelita walks up the aisle carrying a bouquet of pink roses as the Bridal March ends)

Odd (Francis voice): Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to join these young lovers in the bonds of holy matrimony. If anyone has any objections, speak now, or forever hold your peace.

Then shortly after the moment of silence, Odd accurately described our story, we said our vows, and then came the final questions that would determine everything.

Odd (Francis voice): Do you Jeremie Belpois, take this woman to be your wife? To love, to care for, and to forsake all others, as long as you both shall live?

Jeremie: I do.

Odd (Francis voice): And do you, Aelita, take this man to be your husband? To love, to care for, and to forsake all others, as long as you both shall live?

Aelita: Of course I do.

Odd (Francis voice): Then by the power invested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the...

For some reason that I'm not quite sure, I kissed Aelita before Odd finished speaking. The audience was a bit surprised at my sudden move, but they still clapped and cheered nonetheless.

Odd (very quietly): Bride?

Now, unlike most newly married couples who quickly rushed to their car, we slowly walked, hand-in-hand. We always liked to take it slow, and gradually build our life together.

Aelita: Oh, I almost forgot! The bridal and garter toss! (Aelita throws the bouquet and Jeremie throws the garter, Sissi catches the bouquet and Odd catches the garter, bumping into Sissi, his wig flies off)

Odd: Ouch... (Sissi looks at Odd, somewhat shocked)

Sissi: Odd?

Odd: Uh, surprise?

Later on, me and Odd had to give an explanation to our friends (and William's uncle, who works as a police officer) about this, and luckily, Odd did not go to jail.

William: Trust me, uncle Henry. Odd is a good guy.

Officer Henry: Well, I believe you,as always, cause I can't think of one time you've ever lied to me. (a muffling voice is heard through his walkie-talkie) Tell me it's not The Heartbreakers again. (the muffling voice is heard again) Ok, I'll be right there. Well, I'd love to stay, but I can't. There's a bank being robbed on the south-west side of Paris, so I must go. Goodbye, and congratulations to the newlywed couple!

(he leaves, the alarm goes off, ending the flashback and waking up Jeremie)

Jeremie: And I thought it would all be ok. Man, I didn't know how wrong I was.

We meet back up here again, mostly because I just woke up very late at 11:15.

Ulrich: Where's Odd? (someone knocks on Jeremie's door) Come in. (Nickolas walks in, William begins to shiver)

Nickolas: Message for uh, Jeremie Belpois and his friends.

Jeremie: That's me. (he takes the note, Nickolas leaves)

William(muttering): Something doesn't seem right...

Jeremie: What can't be right?

William: Nothing. Nothing important, anyway. What does that note say?

Jeremie: Odd is mad at Yumi for attempting to beat him and verbally assaulting his boss. He decided to work at Lily's today, so he won't be joining us. (sarcastically) Nice going, Yumi. Now he won't be helping us for at least two days!

Yumi: Maybe I was a little harsh.

Ulrich/William/Jeremie: A little?!

Yumi: Ok, very harsh. I just.., Ugh.. Lily's insult is beginning to drive me insane!

Jeremie: Ya think?


	22. An Unlikely Chemistry

Odd: Are you sure you're ok paying for this?

Grace: Of course I'm fine with it.I saved up some money for this meal.

Sissi: I'm surprised my cousin is giving you an hour-long lunch break on the busiest day of the year for her.

The three of us were sitting at an umbrella-shaded table at Coco's Cafe. I decided to enjoy the time with my girlfriend and co-worker before the latter and I returned to Lily's. Despite the fact that me and Grace weren't at work, Grace was still in her formal work outfit of a long-sleeved white blouse and black skirt which barely covered her ankles.

Grace: I hope you don't mind me asking, but how did a goofball guy like Odd get to be the boyfriend of the Queen of Kadic?

Odd: It's actually a pretty funny story. Do you mind if I tell her?

Sissi: Nope. Go right ahead.

It all started in the early spring of my 10th grade year at Kadic Academy. Sissi had become a small friend of the group, but she still playfully teased us and didn't want the school to know that she had changed. But things didn't really change until one day in the middle of April. We were in chemistry class and we're forced to work with each other in a lab experiment. Sissi didn't like the idea very much, and I tried my hardest not to make a mess of myself in front of her. But while we argued, I made a mistake.

(flashback, five years ago, Odd dumps a yellow liquid into the flask of water while looking and growling at Sissi)

Mrs. Hertz: Oh no. Please tell me that substance is not what I think it is!

(the flask shatters into pieces, fires begin to burn Odd's clothes)

Mrs. Hertz, our chemistry teacher, quickly quenched the fire on my clothes, but they ran out of fuel for the fire extinguisher and before I realized it, half of the room was ablaze!

Mrs. Hertz: Everyone, run! (Mrs. Hertz and the rest of the class run off)

The class, except for me and Sissi, made it out of there at her command. Sissi was slow to realize the disaster, so I grabbed her hand and we ran as fast as we could. The fire was not contained, and the whole science building was going down in flames!

Sissi: Odd, you knucklehead! Don't you realize what that substance was?

Odd: Uh no. Should I?

We ran as Sissi explained that the yellow liquid was chlorosulfonic acid, better known as chlorosulfuric acid. When that acid meets water, they violently react with each other, causing fire and explosions. We were at the top of the building when we realized we went upstairs and not down! The fire had begun to consume almost all of the science couldn't go down, or we could get if we jumped off, we could get easily hurt. A jump from a four story building? Not a good idea...

Odd: Oh no.. We went the wrong way.. Dead end!

Sissi: Odd, the fire's getting closer! We're dead. It's over for both of us..

Odd: No, just for me. (he grabs Sissi and carries her bridal style) You're probably gonna hate me for this.

Sissi: Wait, what are you... AHH!

I jumped off the building, but luckily, thanks to Jeremie's planning (and an old mattress thrown out by our friend William Dunbar) we landed safely on the bed, neither one of us scratched or bumped.

Mr. Delmas: Sissi, what happened?How did this fire start?

Odd:Well, Mr. Delmas.. it was..

Sissi: It was all my fault! (everyone gasps, Odd gets a confused look on his face)

Odd: Huh?

Mr. Delmas: Sissi, how did this happen?

Sissi said that she accidentally mixed the acid with the water, causing the chemistry classroom, and eventually the rest of the building, to go down in flames. Classes were dismissed early that day, and Sissi was nowhere to be found in the commons or outside areas. I felt terrible because she took the blame for my stupid mistake.

William: I still can't believe Sissi screwed up like that... (Odd is shown sighing with his back to a tree, Aelita approaches him)

Aelita: Odd, what's wrong?

Odd: Can you guys keep a secret? (they all nod yes) It wasn't Sissi that started the fire on accident. It was me. (they all gasp in unison)

Yumi: Sissi took the blame for you?

Jeremie: That's so unlike of her..

Ulrich: But why would she do that?

Odd: I don't know, but I'm gonna find out. If anyone asks where I went, don't tell them I went to find Sissi.

It took me a while to find her, but I found Sissi where I least expected to find her.

(Odd knocks on the door)

Sissi (off-screen): Who is it?

Odd: It's me, Odd. The guy who saved you from the fire. (Sissi opens her door, Odd walks into her dorm room, then she shuts it)

Sissi: Why did you come here?

Odd: I came to ask you why you lied to them back there. You could of let me say the fire was all my fault, but you didn't. Why?

Sissi: You saved my life back there. I didn't know if I could ever repay you, so I took the blame, and the punishment. If my father knew you started the fire, he probably would have you expelled!

Odd: So what happened? How did he punish you?

Sissi: I'm grounded to my room for two weeks during non-school hours and I lost my phone for three weeks.

Odd: Aw that's a shame. And um, Sissi, are you sure there aren't any other reasons for doing this? You taking the blame for something I did, that's unlike you. Especially since what I did was really stupid.

Sissi: Yes.. I mean no! Or.. Ugh.. There is one other reason, but you can't tell anyone.

Odd: What is it?

Sissi: Odd... I feel like I should of told you this a long time ago,and I know you might not feel the same way.. But.. (she embraces him) I love you.

Odd: You.. you do? Sissi.. I.. I don't know what to say.

Sissi: I get it, you don't want me. (Odd kisses Sissi, who returns the kiss)

Odd: Sissi... I've... I've always liked you, but due to our... differences, we got off to a bad start. I love you... a lot. I probably should get going before my friends send a search party after me. (he hands Sissi a slip of paper) Here's my number. You can call or text me once you get your phone back. (Sissi is seen blushing)

Sissi: Thanks Odd, but do you think you can keep secret about this romance between us?

Odd: Sure thing. I'm an expert at secret-keeping. (he leaves Sissi's room)

As I left Sissi's dorm room behind, I knew that when my friends finally would find out the truth, that they would never believe me. (the flashback ends)

Odd: And that's what happened. True story.

Grace: Interesting way to kill 12 minutes. I'm guessing Odd sneaked out of his room a lot just to see you until you weren't grounded anymore?

Sissi: Pretty much. Every night since then, he came back for more til I was free from punishment. We had to be very careful to not got caught or go too far. So, Grace, remind me, why are you working for my cousin if you think she's awful?

Grace: I thought that she was a good person to work for because my stepsister told me she was a good boss, but she lied to me. But the reason I'm still there is that I'm saving my money so I can start my singing career in Los Angeles, California. She says I'll never get there, but I won't let her pessimistic demeanor bring me down!

Odd: That's the spirit, Grace!

Grace: Sissi, could you get us some napkins?

Sissi: Sure, be right back. (she leaves)

Grace: Hey, Odd, with all that's going on and how much Lily is beginning to dislike and not trust you as much as she used to, as well as her hating all of your friends, do you think she'll fire you?

Odd: Fire me? (Odd laughs) Why do you ask?

Grace: I'm worried she's gonna give you the pink slip for ditching to help your friends. I know they understand the situation you're in, but they're asking a lot from you. And your loyalty lies with them, doesn't it?

Odd: She would never do that. I'm too valuable for her to lose. That will never happen. And to be honest, there's one "friend" that I don't want to talk to at the moment.

Grace: If you say so.. (she smiles and winks)

A small part of me thought, _She's not totally convinced._ I tried not to listen.


	23. The Damsel's Defense

It was a few days after Odd's very busy shift at Lily's on February 21st, and it had been exactly two weeks since Aelita went missing. I tried to look on the bright side, but it was really hard to. I really hated my insulting title, _The Defenseless Damsel in Distress._ I growled. It was beginning to drive me nuts! On the bright side, I made amends with Odd by apologizing to him.

(the gang is seen out on the streets near the Je t'amie Paris Resort and Spa, Yumi is shown punching a square shaped pillow Odd is holding)

Yumi: That Lily.. I want to punch her! She's the damsel in distress! (she kicks the pillow out of Odd's hands)

Odd: Yumi, you've been blowing off stream for 10 minutes! Can't you relax?

Jeremie: We came here to figure out how we can find Aelita, not so Yumi could vent her rage!

Yumi: Jeremie, don't you feel just a little bit insulted that Lily called you a madman?

Jeremie: I do feel insulted, but I'm not going to let it get to my head, unlike you. Come on, we better get to 's Hospital. I know for certain Aelita will be there today.

Ulrich: Wait a second... How do you know that she will be there, Jeremie?

Jeremie: Well, um...

Voice: Well, well, well, look who it is.

Ulrich (sarcastically): Oh great, not these guys again.

Jeremie: Did I miss something? I can't remember facing these criminals.

Odd: That's because you were knocked out at that time, Einstein.

Ok, now just who are these guys? Pure evil. They're called The Heartbreakers, and like the PPG, they tried to capture me. These guys were a quartet of criminals who were arrested years ago. I can only assume they are now a trio, as their leader, Amy, seemed to be missing.

Jeremie: We don't have time for this.

Ulrich: Relax, we should be able to stop these guys quickly.

Yumi: No. I'll stop em. I'll face these criminals.

William: All alone?

Yumi: Yes. William, record me fighting these guys. The rest of you, continue on with your quest!

Why did they try to kidnap me? It's a bit of a long story. I'll tell you as I beat up these guys. Do't worry, you'll get to see some action. The story involves both the guys discovering that I was dating both of them at the same. It was six months after I started dating both of them, and me, the boys and rest of the gang were at the Kadic Academy track, just hanging out and having a good time as William showed off his impressive running speed, because he claimed that he could run away from the Scyphozoa if he had to.

(flashback, roughly five years ago, William stops running, he notices Ulrich glaring at him)

William: Why are you staring at me like that?

Ulrich: Because, I know what you're up to. You don't even need to say anything. I know you're only in this group to steal Yumi from me, so back off, punk! Yumi's my girl. (William is slapped in the face by Ulrich, William growls)

William: Ulrich, you need to know some things. First off, I joined this group so I could be with my old friends again, but it's clear that you still treat me like your old enemy. And besides, (he flips Ulrich,and pins him to the ground) Yumi is my girlfriend, so you have no right to accuse me of trying to steal her.

Ulrich: You lair! There's no way Yumi would ever like you!

William: You're just jealous because I'm so much better for her and that she didn't chose you!

Yumi: Guys! Ah... (her mouth is covered by one criminal, she is tied up by another, Aelita and Jeremie are knocked out, Odd is on the ground, appearing to be slightly injured)

I soon saw a long blond-haired leader, who looked like she could seduce any guy, and three guys who looked the same with blond hair and blue eyes like Amy, the evil leader. The first guy had a purple-beaded necklace, second was green, third was blue, and Amy had a red one.

Criminal 1: You have the right to remain silent. (Ulrich gets up, and glares at the criminals along with William)

Ulrich: Who are you creeps?!

Criminal 2: We're The Heartbreakers. Doing crime and tearing love apart is in our field of expertise!

William: What are you doing here?!

Amy: We're just doing what we always do. And besides, Yumi Ishimaya is not the faithful girl she pretends to be. Look at these pictures, and you'll find that she's nothing more than a playerette. (she throws some pictures towards William, then throws some at Ulrich's feet, they look at the pictures given and gasp)

William: Yumi? How...how could you?

Ulrich: What?! I knew it! I knew he couldn't be trusted! (their arguing is heard in the background)

Amy: Well, boys, our work is done here.

Criminal 3: Why are we kidnapping Yumi again,boss?

Amy: Because Eric, your best friend and closest brother, Henry has interest in her. (he blushes a little bit)

Henry: How do you know that?

Amy: You talk in your sleep. That's why me and your brothers wear earplugs when we sleep, but I misplaced them one night and heard you talking in your sleep. Luke, did you prepare the getaway van?

Luke: Don't you remember that our van broke?

Amy: Looks like we must scram the old-fashioned way. We need to move before they stop arguing! (Yumi gets the rope around her mouth off)

Yumi: William, Ulrich, this mess is not what it seems! Ask Odd, he'll tell you everything! (they begin to run away with Yumi over Henry's shoulder) Help!

(the flashback ends)

I was determined not to let history repeat itself. That was then, and this is now.

(Yumi kicks Eric into a wall, knocking him out)

Henry: You couldn't defend yourself back then, so how could you even fight now? (Henry grabs one of Yumi's wrists, she kicks him in the balls, he lets go)

Yumi: You don't know anything about me! I've changed since then! (she punches him in the face, knocking him into a trashcan, and he passes out, she smiles, Luke kicks Yumi onto the ground)

Luke: You're just a defenseless little girl in distress. (Yumi growls loudly)

Yumi: I'm not a damsel in distress, and none of you have any idea what I've been through! (she kicks him in the balls) My name is Yumi Ishimaya, and I am a warrior! A Lyoko warrior! (she kicks a confused Luke in his knee) And you picked the wrong one to mess with! (she punches him in the face several times in a row) Say goodnight, Luke! (she then punches him into the wall, knocking him out, Yumi breathes heavily) See, William? I told you that I... Ugh.. (she faints)

Before I knew it, I suffered from a fainting spell of exhaustion, and everything turned black.


	24. The Targets of You-Know-Who

(Yumi faints, William catches her before she hits the ground)

William: Yumi! Oh... no... (sigh) Ulrich is not going to like hearing about this...

After Yumi defeated the criminals, she was really beaten and passed out. I took her to the hospital, which coincidentally, was the same one Jeremie, Ulrich and Odd were at, trying to find Aelita. That's also where they attempted to help me after I was flash-blinded. The Heartbreakers were arrested by my uncle.

William: Yumi.. (he intertwines his hand in Yumi's right, and puts his right one over her face) please.. wake up.. (William's phone rings, "So what if you can see, the darkest side of me? No one will ever.. " before he answers it) Hello?

Jeremie (on phone): William, did Yumi ever finish fighting those criminals?

William: Um.. Uh.. About that... I have good news and bad news.

Odd (speaker): What's the good news?

William: She did finish them on her own, and the trio of troublemakers have been arrested.

Ulrich (speaker): And the bad news?

William: As a result of her fighting the criminals all by herself, she is badly hurt.

Ulrich (speaker): What?! How badly has she been hurt?!

William: Very badly. She won't wake up... She's been lying in a seemingly endless sleep for almost half an hour.

Jeremie (on phone): Oh dear. That's not good at all! Where are you guys?

William: In 's Hospital, where you guys are or just were.

Jeremie (on phone): Actually, we're in the lobby. What room are you guys in?

William: Room A110. I hope Yumi wakes up soon. She's been knocked out for almost 30 minutes..

Jeremie (on phone): Alright. We'll be right there.

William: Alright. Goodbye. (he looks at Yumi) Yumi... I..never should of let you face them..

A few minutes later, they got up here, but Yumi was still not awake.

Ulrich: I knew I never should of left her alone... 30 minutes later and this is what happens! (he begins to shake her shoulders) Yumi, wake up! (Yumi moans, slowly waking up) Yumi, you're ok! (he hugs her, she embraces him)

Yumi: Looks like William wasn't the only one worried. (they let go, Ulrich backs away from Yumi)

William: Yumi.. please.. don't scare me, Ulrich, or anyone else like that.

Yumi: Guys, I..I have a confession to make. It just felt like.. Lily's insult was actually right, and... I hated that. The Heartbreakers, and the Purple Phoenix Gangsters tried to kidnap me. They nearly got away with it. I'm a Lyoko Warrior. I'm supposed to be strong. I should be able to face all the gangs after me all by myself. If I can't, how can I call myself a fighter?

Ulrich: Yumi.. I.. I can understand why you were doing what you had done, but it doesn't mean you have to face everything all alone. You have not one, but two men who love you dearly and would be willing to fight to protect you, and two other guy-friends who would do just the same. You may be a warrior, but you're never alone. (he takes Yumi's hand)

Yumi (while looking at Odd): Odd,why are you wearing that stuff?

I looked at Odd and saw him in a black trench coat, pants, boots, and a fedora. His hair was also flattened, presumably tucked into his hat. He also wore a pair of sunglasses but when it was just us around, he had them off.

Odd: Do you really wanna know, or do we have more important matters to discuss?

William: So, did you find what you were looking for?

Ulrich: We did, but here's the thing. We found her hair, but the nurse says nobody named Aelita was ever here today. (Ulrich writes down notes) Nothing makes any sense!

Jeremie: Wait a minute.. I think I might have an idea of what's going on here... Many times She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named said she didn't have Aelita in her clutches. Yet she has still ended up in many places. You-Know-Who also said William was only her secondary target and not her primary one. If Aelita was kidnapped, her kidnappers wouldn't of been able to get away with it unless it was You-Know-Who. And since You-Know-Who didn't do anything yet, Aelita must be running away from someone or something. Most likely, You-Know-Who.

Odd: I would agree with you, but wasn't Aelita at your home when you last saw her? You-Know-Who couldn't of attacked her without you noticing something.

Yumi: Do you even think she knows that She-Who-Mustn't-Be-Named is after her?

Jeremie: Probably.

Odd: So, basically,we have to find Aelita before You-Know-Who does?

Jeremie: Exactly.

Ulrich: Ok, we know that You-Know-Who's targets are Aelita and William, but why does she want to capture the former and kill the latter?

Jeremie/William (sigh in unison): I wish I knew...

The plot of the story began to thicken as we attempted to uncover Xana's intentions. If you haven't noticed, You-Know-Who, She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, et cetera, those are cover-up names when we talked of Xana in public, so that way, we have less chance of being questioned. Interrogation was the last thing we needed, especially if your name was William Dunbar.


	25. Temptations

I was once again in the realm of flashbacks. More specifically, right after Yumi was kidnapped by The Heartbreakers. After finding out that Yumi was dating both me and William at the same time, both of us demanded a brief explanation from Odd.

(flashback, roughly five years ago)

Yumi: Help! (Odd, William, and Ulrich are running after the criminals)

Ulrich: Odd, what's going on here?

Odd (sigh): Look, Yumi never meant to get herself in this mess, and I don't know which of you hooked up with her first, but she got together with both of you behind your backs. For some reason I don't really know or understand, she's torn between you guys. She loves both of you and didn't want to choose just one of you.

William: We need to hurry! At this rate, they'll get away! Ulrich, run ahead and stop them! (he begins to run faster, and runs in front of the criminals)

Luke: What the?! Aren't they supposed to be arguing while we make our getaway?

Odd: If they didn't have the basic idea of what was going on, they would be. But since I knew the basics of this situation, they won't argue and will work together to defeat you creeps!

Henry (sarcastically): Oh great! A mediator?! That's the last thing we need!

William/Ulrich: Let her go! (Ulrich attacks Henry, and catches Yumi in his arms, Odd kicks Amy in the face and back-first into a tree, William kicks Luke down)

William: Wait. (Luke, Henry and Eric charge towards him) I'll face these criminals.

Yumi: All alone?

William: Yes. I'm sorry Yumi, but I have to do this. Odd ,Ulrich, get Yumi to a place of safety!

We quickly got Yumi to a safe haven, but she was still upset because she believed Will was gone.

Yumi: William... He can't be...gone? (Milly and Tamia get Ulrich in shot)

Ulrich: In hindsight, maybe I shouldn't of been so cruel to him. It's just.. I've been so used to thinking of him as the enemy, I forget I'm supposed to be friends with him. But we're just.. enemies and nothing more.

Milly: Yumi, is it really true that you dated both William Dunbar and Ulrich Stern at the same time?

Yumi: Yes.. it is.. William.. he was a really good guy. He didn't deserve whatever terrible fate happened to him back there. I don't want to assume the worst, but it seems that William is...

William (off-screen): Dead? Not quite. (the camera turns to a beaten-up and shaken William) Beaten and bruised, yes, but I'm not dead yet.

Yumi: William, you're alive! (she runs over and throws her arms around him, Ulrich looks at William jealously)

Ulrich: So much for not having competition.

Afterwards, we got many explanations and figured out what really happened. The next day, we were at the track again, but this time, being tested by Jim.

Jim: Let's see. Last but not least, William Dunbar and Ulrich Stern, you're up! (they walk over)

Ulrich: Go figure. Stuck with the bad boy...

William: Well, William, it could be worse.

Jim: You're not even mad you must face your worst enemy?

William: The closest rival isn't always the worst enemy.

Ulrich: Hey, um, William? I'm sorry about.. excusing you of trying to..

William: No need to apologize. You had every right to be jealous. And if she got you first, you'd have even more jealously rights. (they get on the ground in a running position)

Jim: On your mark...

Ulrich: Do you really think this threesome situation will work?

Jim: Get set...

William: We're the world's most unlikely trio, what could go wrong?

Jim: Go! (William and Ulrich begin to race around the track, the flashback ends)

I then remembered my most recent dream. Me and the wicked witch sitting at the very top of the Eiffel Tower.

Xana: So, was I right about Jeremie hiding something?

Ulrich: Unfortunately, it seems like it. (he gives Xana the list) I don't get it. First William has a secret, then Jeremie, and now I bet you're going to tell me that my best friend Odd and my girlfriend Yumi have a deep dark secret they're hiding as well?

Xana: I would, but I never said Jeremie's secret was dark. (she puts the list down) In fact, if you knew what it was and Aelita wasn't missing, you'd say it's really good news. Your friends may be hiding something from you, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's bad. It could be good, bad, or maybe even neutral. Your friends don't trust you, Ulrich. They keep using you and your power and they don't tell you anything anymore.

Ulrich: What? They've never used me!

Xana: Really? Many years ago, they've sold you over to Sissi to get one or more of your friends out of detention a few times. They don't know the secret emotions that lie within you... But I do... (she grabs Ulrich's left wrist, and puts her right hand on his cheek) Join me, Ulrich. Together, we can destroy all that lies between us and our goals... Join me...

She made it sound very tempting, but I knew better than to consort with the enemy.

Ulrich: Why... why should I? (he makes a fist with his hand and breaks free from Xana's grasp)

Xana: Well, think about it, your primary goals are to be an amazing soccer player and to get Yumi to be yours and only yours, am I correct? (Ulrich nods yes) Nothing is stopping you from being a successful soccer player, but someone or something is stopping you from getting Yumi to be yours. What stands in your way of Yumi?

Ulrich: Nothing.. except.. William!

Xana: Exactly. You hated him ever since you first met him, and saw him hanging out with Yumi. Until you two worked together to stop The Heartbreakers, you've always thought of William as the enemy. Heck, when he was under my control, you were glad to fight him.

Ulrich: Wait a minute, how did you know that last fact? I never told anyone that I liked fighting William under your control! Nobody's supposed to know that!

Xana: I know that, because I know you, Ulrich. I know you a lot more than you think. I know that your worst fear, aside from losing Yumi, is heights. Sadly, I don't know if William has any irrational fears... Do you?

Ulrich: Irrational fears? Hmm...


	26. A Trip Down Memory Lane

This was bad. Really bad. I was certain we would be able to find Aelita at St. George's Hospital. You're probably wondering how I knew she'd be there. Due to me being the only one who knew that Aelita wa pregnant, and the long list of required appointments that come with it, I knew she'd be there. None of this made much sense. It was two weeks and three days since my wife went missing, and we were running out of time. My friends didn't know that, but there's no way I could tell them, or they would lose their sanity just like I did! And I feared that if everyone in the group lost their sanity, the crew would fall apart for sure!

Odd: Jeremie? Jeremie, are you ok?

Jeremie: Huh? Odd, you know the answer to that.

 _Even though you don't know the other half of the reason why I'm so worried..._ I thought.

Just then, Yumi, Ulrich and William arrived, but someone unfamiliar to me was with the world's most unlikely trio.

Jeremie: Uh, do I know this guy? (he looks at a black-haired teen with blue shorts, a black t-shirt with a sais x-crossed symbol on it as well as red sneakers)

Teen: Apparently not. I don't think my older sis ever told you about me.

Jeremie: Older sister?

William: Sorry, Jeremie. We had a meeting at the Ishimaya Residence because we believed everyone there was on vacation. Not everyone left...

Odd: Yumi's little brother, Hiroki, stayed behind and overheard the four of us during the meeting. We had to explain everything to him. Lyoko, Xana, our allies, our history...

Ulrich: Everything including the kitchen sink! It was either we tell him the truth, or he would tell everything he knew to his parents once they get back home. He overheard the name of our worst enemy... Xana.

Hiroki: I thought your worst enemy was William.

Ulrich: He's my worst rival, not worst enemy. And besides, William applies only to me. But basically, Hiroki knows everything, including who Xana is.

Jeremie: Oh... Well that's understandable.

Yumi: You're not mad because we told Hiroki every single secret?

Jeremie: To be honest, at this point, I don't really care. As long as we don't drag too many new recruits into this mystery, we should be able to call on extra allies.

Ulrich: What about Franz Hopper and Athena Schaffer?

Jeremie: They don't know about Aelita being missing. I think it would be better if it was kept under the hat, otherwise, they'd be just as worried as I am.

Ok, the team knew that Aelita was missing, but as I've already said, they didn't know of her being with my child. For Aelita's parents, what they knew is the inverse. To my knowledge, I'm the only one that knew both important facts, and because of this, I have lost my sanity.

(Odd's watch buzzes)

Jeremie: How much time do you have before you must get over to Lily's?

Odd: That was only the 30-minute warning. There will be another alarm at 10 minutes before my shift begins, giving me plenty of time to get there.

Hiroki: Lily's?

Odd: Short for Lily's Gourmet By the Bay. The restaurant I work at.

We split up to search for Aelita, and if any of us encountered Xana, we were armed with pepper spray that was made by Yumi. I didn't think it would be effective should we come face-to-face with her. But how exactly does one fight a ghost? That is what we (not counting William because of his "superpowers") didn't know. I continued to walk down the alley (cause at this point, I'd look anywhere to find Aelita), it was like a trip down memory lane. I began having many flashbacks...

(sequence of flashbacks- he is seen in limbo, holding hands with Aelita, he is shown being kissed by Aelita and frozen stiff as she walks away, he is shown in the factory with Aelita as Odd, Yumi and Ulrich walk away)

Aelita: Jeremie, are you ok? (he is seen blushing madly)

Jeremie: A.. Aelita.. I.. I feel like I should of told you this a long time ago.. If you haven't already figured it out.. (he slowly puts his arms around Aelita) I.. I love you. (he kisses her on the lips slowly, she kisses him back, they eventually stop, Aelita looks at Jeremie's eyes)

Aelita: Oh, Jeremie, I love you too. Everything I have, I owe it all to you.

(he and Aelita are sitting down at a table on a porch at a nice restaurant, seen in formal outfits, Jeremie pulls out a black box as Aelita gets up from her chair)

Jeremie: Aelita.. I.. I really love you .(he gets on his knees) I want to spend the rest of my life with you. (he opens the box, revealing a sliver and diamond ring) Will you marry me?

Aelita: Jeremie... Yes! Of course I will! (she kisses him, the sequence ends )

I was about to recall when Aelita told me the very good news (aka-the secret I still have to hide from my friends) but my trip down memory lane came to a sudden halt when my phone rang.

(Jeremie's phone rings, "Into the stars, go buy candy bars rides a kid with a..." then stops)

Jeremie: Well, that was weird...

Voice (softly): The barrier will break, to Aelita I call.. (the voice is heard clearly) The truth will make them ache, and the warriors... will fall. (evil laughter is heard, then slowly fades away)

Jeremie: Was that Xana? Oh no...


	27. One Trip Gets Me the Slip

I should of seen it coming. It was three weeks since Aelita disappeared, two weeks since my phone was broken by Lily, and one week since the important meeting at St. George's Hospital. It was 8:30pm, the sun had set, and business was a bit slow, but we still couldn't fool around.

(Odd is shown with a sad look on his face as he adds the dry baguette crumbs to the pot, he sighs)

Lily: Well, I must say, your performance has improved in the last two weeks.

I didn't say anything and continued making the mousse and french onion soup for the customers who ordered them. I felt bad because I wasn't helping out my friends as much as I should. But the checks I got every two weeks were also pretty important to me and Sissi. I was pleasing everyone else, but no matter what I did, I couldn't satisfy myself.

(Odd carries out the bowls of soup and the mousse dessert)

Just then, my head began to spin, and I was seeing something completely different.

(Odd sees himself in the lab, where a red-cloaked figure is typing on the keyboard, her fingers with pink nails are seen, a one minute-and-ten-seconds timer begins to countdown)

Voice: I'm sorry, my love. (she runs into the elevator, and it does down) But I have no choice now. (she runs into the scanner room) Defeat Xana... Stop her before it's too late.

(she enters the scanner, it closes and a bright white light is seen, the vision ends)

Odd: Wait a second..Was that.. Aelit-AHH!

I lost my footing as I was making my way to the waiters, and it didn't end well. Two of the four soup bowls ended up on the waiters faces, while the other two landed on the wall and broke. And almost all of the mousse ended up on floor, with one ending up on my face. This was highly embarrassing.

Odd: Ow... (Grace runs over)

Grace: Odd! Are you ok?! (he moans, Lily walks in)

Lily: What's with all the ruckus?! (she sees this mess and gasps) Who is responsible for this?! (Nickolas, and all the waiters, except for Grace, point at Odd) DELLA ROBIA!

Odd: What? Ms. Delmas, it's not my fault! I can explain!

Lily: No need. Those customers were waiting quite a while for their soup and mousse dessert, and because of your recklessness, they're going to have to wait even longer for their food! That means, a less chance of them coming back! Also, you have lied and ditched work more than three times in a row! (sigh) I never thought I'd have to do this, but you give me no choice. (she hands Odd a pink slip)

Odd: What? But why?!

Lily: You've become too unreliable. You have ditched us too many times, and I can't trust you anymore, you.. you.. Two-Faced Traitor! You're fired! (Grace gasps, Nickolas smiles)

Odd: What? No.. this.. this can't be! You can't do this, I'm one of the primaries!

Lily: Not only are you fired, you're banned from the restaurant for life! Now beat it! (the other waiters glare at Odd, he takes off his robe, wipes the mousse off his face with it, throws it to the ground, along with his chef's hat)

Odd: Lily.. I'm.. I'm really sorry. I don't know what happened.

Lily: Move it! (he hangs his head in shame as he slowly walks out, Nickolas chuckles, Grace is shown to be very sad, getting a little misty-eyed) And don't even think of coming back here if you know what's good for you!

Grace: Odd?

I couldn't believe this at all. My worst nightmare just came true. I was just fired. Now my dreams of becoming a famous chef in France, as well as Sissi's dream to become a famous designer by opening her own boutique, were now crushed. How was I going to tell Sissi? Or the rest of my friends, who didn't know my boss Lily was already mad at me for ditching work?

(Odd walks away sadly from the restaurant)

Grace: Odd, wait! (Grace is holding up her black skirt as she runs towards Odd, she is seen with tears in her eyes) Please.. Don't go...

Odd: I don't have much choice. I've not only been fired, but banned too. If I ever step foot in there again, Lily will call the police and have me arrested.

Grace: Odd... (she throws her arms around him) I know it's too soon, and I know that this isn't love, but I can't let you leave like this! First you lose your phone, then you lose your time with your friends, and now you lose your job? (she lets go of him) It's just not fair!

Odd: I know. It hurts, but I need to find a way to carry on.

Grace: But where will you go? What will you do? How will you tell your friends? And what about Sissi?

Odd: I don't know, Grace. I don't know. I know I'm your best friend, but unless I can get my job back, which will never happen, you're going to have to face Lily alone.

Grace: You're not only my best friend, you're my only friend. All of my fellow waiters hate me, my step-mother and step-sisters were so cruel to me, both of my parents are gone, and Lily is so pessimistic and bossy... (she grabs his wrist) If you leave, I'll lose my only ally. Don't go...

Odd: I'm sorry, Grace. (he gets free from her grasp) But my friends need me. You know I can't stay long.

Grace: You poor unfortunate soul... (she hugs him again) I'm worried I'll never see or hear from you again...

Lily: Gracia Baudin! What are you doing? (Grace turns to face Lily)

Grace: It's Grace, and you can't just fire Odd like this! He was one of your best employees!

Lily: He deserved his punishment, and yours will be much worse!

Grace: Uh oh.. (Odd begins to run away, not looking back)

Lily (off-screen): You wretched girl! You are in so much trouble!

Grace (off-screen): Odd, help!

If I had known what was going on at that time, I would of stayed, but since I didn't, I ran to find my friends and tell them about the vision. Sadly, I hit my head hard on a sign and couldn't even remember if it was real or not. But being fired was what I wanted to forget.


	28. The Wrath of Lilith

It was three weeks and two days since Aelita's disappearance. For some strange reason, I couldn't help but think that Jeremie might have been hiding something from us...

Ulrich: What's that? (he sees a text message in Japanese on Yumi's phone)

Yumi: Looks like a text in Japanese symbols. Weird... (she begins to read it) Uh oh.. Guys, we might be in trouble.

Odd: Why, what does the note say?

Yumi: _"Twists and turns are all part of her plan. The princess returns to where it all began. Intentions and truths may not be what they seem, and three new members will join the team. Hiroki, Gracia and Elizabeth. But before they face the ghost, they must face the wrath of Lilith."_ Lilith? Who's Lil..? (she is knocked out)

Later on, I found my wrists and ankles chained up alongside Odd, Jeremie and Hiroki. Ulrich was tied up with rope and tossed aside as if he was a rag doll. As for William, he wasn't here. This morning at 2:30am, he was viciously attacked by many spiders, including but not limited to: black widows, hobo, mouse, house and wolf spiders. His best friend (aside from the Lyoko Warriors) Sammy Andrews, was keeping him company.

(Yumi wakes up, along with the others)

Odd: Guys, what's happening?

Ulrich: Looks like we're all in distress this time. (they see a man with a gun)

Man: Uh, boss, we have a problem. We're missing one. (a figure with a blue cloak is seen)

Voice: Oh great. William's not here, and he's the one that needs to be destroyed. (she throws Yumi's phone to her) Call William Dunbar and tell him to come over here.

Yumi: And send him to a death trap? Fat chance, strange lady.

Voice: Oh really? Well, I was just going to destroy you, Odd, and Jeremie, but I guess I can just get rid of the excess hostages. (the man points the gun at a cowering Hiroki)

Yumi: Ok, ok! I'll do it! (she begins dialing a number)

I didn't want to bother Will since he was still weak from all that spider venom, but I had no other choice.

William (on phone): Hello?

Yumi: William, listen closely. We have a bad situation. I need you to meet us at the abandoned factory nearby the Metro station.

William (on phone): Yumi, what's the trouble?

Yumi: We kinda.. have our hands tied... if you know what I mean.

William (on phone): Oh.. Oh no... A code purple situation. Should I bring backup fighters?

Yumi: Yes, please do. And hurry! (she hangs up, the figure takes the phone)

Figure: Ok, Dougall. Now we must wait.

Dougall: Aw man, I hate waiting...

Figure: If you want to be payed,you must wait for William Dunbar to arrive.

Dougall: Why do you even want William killed and Ulrich to be spared?

Figure: You heard my directions very clearly. Kill William Dunbar first, spare Ulrich Stern, and kill the rest; Jeremie Belpois, Odd Della Robbia and Yumi Ishimaya.

Dougall: What about the twerp? (he points to Hiroki)

Figure: I'm not paying you to get rid of that little boy.

Hiroki: I'm not that little! I'm almost 16 years old for crying out loud! (William kicks down the door)

William: Let my friends go!

Figure: Finally. It's about time you showed up. Dougall, your target is in sight! (Dougall appears as Sissi walks into the room)

Ulrich: You brought her here?

William: Yumi said to get allies, and Sissi was the only one available. And uh... oh boy.. Why didn't anyone tell me that Dougall Stones was here?

Figure/Yumi: You know him?

William: Are you kidding me? My uncle's been trying to catch him for weeks! He'll happy to hear of his defeat!

Sissi: Are you sure about this? I've heard of this guy being pretty tough.

William: Do you want to save Odd or not? Don't worry, Sissi, this will take less than five minutes. Charge! (the duo charge at Dougall, who begins to fire)

Five minutes and 30 seconds later...

(William is in chains, Sissi is binded by rope and both are thrown onto the ground next to Hiroki and Yumi)

William: At least I tried... (Odd is shown free from his chains, he charges towards the figure)

Odd: Who are you? Why are you doing this?! (the figure kicks Odd down, Odd grabs the hood of the cloak and tears it off as he falls)

Jeremie/Dougall: Odd, are you ok?! Odd!/ Boss! Are you ok? Boss? (she slowly stands up, we see a black pixie cut hair-do)

Figure: I'm fine. The real question is... will they be? (she turns around, they see Lily's face, they all gasp) Hello there, Della Robbia, miss me?

Odd/Sissi: Lily Delmas! I should of known she was behind this!/ Lilith Delmas!? That nasty no good evil she-demon!

Yumi: Wait, did you say Lilith?

Sissi: That is Lily's real name. Like me, she goes under another name because she doesn't like her real one.

Yumi (muttering): Oh no...

Lily: Let's take a look at the bunch... The Princess Without a Crown, The Defenseless Damsel in Distress, The Hopeless Hero, The Madman, The Two-Faced Traitor, The Fighting Failure, and.. um... (to Hiroki) I'm sorry do I know you?

Hiroki: Apparently not. Just call me the newbie.

Lily: And The Newbie. Ok, Dougall, it's time to start the shooting. Kill all targets but Ulrich Stern, and I'll pay you double the cash for all your work.

Dougall: Hooray! (he gets out his gun)

Hiroki: Oh no...

Odd: Lily.. don't do it... (she stands on Odd with her left black heel)

Lily: Give it up, Della Robbia. You and your friends are toast.


	29. This Ends Now

I wanted to say that Lily was possessed by Xana, but thanks to my sixth sense, I knew better.

Yumi: Odd, before we die, let me tell you this; I was right about her this whole time! I should of destroyed her when I had the chance!

Dougall: Remind me, which one of Odd's friends do I destroy first? (Lily walks over to Dougall and she points at Sissi, who is worried)

Lily: How about the one most precious to him? She is such a disgrace to her family name anyway.

Sissi: You're the one who's a disgrace! You will never get away with this!

Lily (chuckling): We already have. Ready, aim... Fi..

Grace (off-screen): Stop! (she gets in front of a tied up Sissi) This ends now!

I knew that girl was Grace, Odd's friend. Her skirt was so torn it looked like a mini-skirt, she wore a white tank top that was so torn it exposed her stomach and her short hair was very messy and frizzy. She appeared to be wearing some kind of metal anklet and was barefoot. She looked beaten, bruised and extremely mad.

Lily: So this is what became of my loyal servant? You were a fool to rebel against me.

Grace: You're the one who's a fool. You treated Odd so terribly when you had no idea how shaken up he was! You lead him to his darkest hour, and because of you, he lies on this cold hard ground, fighting just to stay alive! First you punish him with extra labor, next you take and break his phone, then you fire him, and now you try and kill all of his friends including his girlfriend?! You're not just a jerk, you're a malevolent madwoman!

Lily: Why do you even stand by him? He's just holding you back from your already shattered dream. You're not meant to be a singer and he knows it.

Grace: You liar! Odd's not just my best friend, he's my only friend and ally. I won't leave him when he needs me! If I live, if I die, I will always stand by his side! (Odd slowly stands back up) So do your worst, Delmas. If I must, I will send you to your grave! And for the record, my dream was never shattered, but your mind is!

Lily: You heard the foolish girl. Ready, Aim... (Sissi is shown scared out of her wits, Grace is standing and glaring fiercely at Lily, Dougall aims the gun at Grace)

Odd: Gracia!

Lily: Fire! (Dougall fires the bullet)

Odd: Girls, watch out! (he pushes Grace out of the way and the bullet hits his shoulder) Ahh!

Grace/Sissi: Odd!

While they were distracted, I found a way out of my chains, and used my stealth skills for a surprise attack.

Lily: Alright, who's next in line for their death?

William: Me! (he uses pepper spray on Dougall, hurting his eyes, he takes the gun from his hands and shoots Dougall down, killing him, then looks at Lily fiercely) Lilith Delmas, I will give you yet one fair warning. (he holds the gun a few feet from Lily's heart) If you don't release my friends and the innocent civilians right now, I'll shoot you down just like I did to Dougall Stones!

Lily: Your threats don't scare me, Dunbar. Fire at will. (he fires at Lily, only for her to dodge, but someone grabs her wrist, it is revealed to be Henry Dunbar)

Officer Henry: Alright, William, I think you can put the gun down. (William does so, the medics tend to Odd while Grace and Sissi look at Odd, worried)

William (while trying to free Yumi): I thought you wouldn't come. Who called you guys here?

Officer Henry: A young girl named Violet said that she saw Jeremie, Yumi, and many others tied up and told us a criminal was trying to kill them.

Yumi: Glad she was looking out for us.

William: You know her? (he gets the chains off, and helps Yumi up)

Yumi: She was a young violinist we met while me and Jeremie were investigating Kadic Academy. Although scared of us at first, she quickly trusted us once she knew that our intentions were pure.

Grace: I hope Odd's ok.. I don't want to lose him again.. Or for real.

Officer Henry: What happened?

We explained what happened, and we retrieved all of the items and phones she took from us. Plus an extra.

Lily: Knock it off!

Sissi: I know you're hiding it somewhere! Where is it? (she takes off Lily's long-heeled boots, sticks her hand in) Ah-ha! (she pulls out Odd's phone) I knew this was Lily's doing!

Odd: My phone! Lily's had it in her boot this whole time? (he growls very loudly)

Officer Henry: She stole it?

Lily: Technically, I confiscated it because one of the troublemakers called him during work.

Odd: But you said you'd give it back once the shift was over! You never did! And you also tricked me into believing my phone was broken! (he looks at Yumi) Yumi, you were so right about her.

Yumi: Told you.

Officer Henry: Lilith Delmas, you are under arrest. (he handcuffs her)

Sissi: You really are the worst cousin on the planet! I hope you perish in prison quickly. Gentlemen, take her away and out of my sight! (they grab her arms)

Lily: You'll pay for this, William Dunbar! You will all pay! (she is dragged away, sirens are heard briefly)

Grace: Now what am I supposed to do?

William: Well, you said that you wanted to help Odd. The best way to do that is to help us solve the mystery of Aelita's disappearance.

Yumi: Of course. This all makes sense... Hiroki, Gracia, and Elizabeth. The new recruits...

Sissi: Um, could somebody explain what's going on?

William: Grace and Sissi, welcome to the Lyoko warriors. It's time for you two to take your place in the group and help us solve the mystery. The mystery of madness...


	30. The Darkness Within

It was three weeks and four days since Aelita disappeared. After Lily was arrested and Odd had fully recovered from the bullet shot in his shoulder, we were at the hospital checking in on Odd and Grace, who was visiting him. Just two days ago, Grace looked like a mess, but now, she looked alright. She wore black sneakers with white socks, black jeans and purple t-shirt with a bass clef note on it. She also wore a yin-yang bracelet along with a sliver treble clef necklace, oh, and her black metal anklet was also removed.

Ulrich: I can't say she's the prettiest girl I've ever seen, as that award goes to Yumi, but I will say that Grace looks a lot better now that she's no longer being a rebel.

Grace: I wouldn't call myself a rebel. I'm just somewhat rebellious. Sorry for the shoddy first impression.

William: It's alright. So Grace, what actually happened to you after Odd was fired?

Grace: It's a long story. After Odd started running to find you guys, Lily grabbed my wrists and dragged me away. I called out to Odd for help, but he either didn't hear me or he was too miserable to notice what was happening. She put a metal anklet on me, and said that if I ever tried to leave the restaurant, the invisible fence around the perimeter would send a signal to her phone. This would tell her I was trying to escape and she would have me punished for it. She locked me in a dark empty room each night with a lit white candle as my only source of light. She took my phone away, and I couldn't call Odd or anyone else for help.

Odd: She really did that? That's awful! If I had known, I would of busted you out of there!

Sissi: What happened after that?

Grace: I cried a lot. I wanted Odd to come back and save me from her wrath. But after the first night, I realized I was on my own. I was surrounded in an aura of fear. I always hated and feared being alone, and during the 2nd night, I realized that Odd was like a brother to me. I couldn't give up on him. On the day of the attack, at 9:30am, I overheard Lily talking to Nickolas, the busboy. Because of my acute hearing, I heard everything he said to Lily. But when he spoke, something was off about his voice. I saw a weird symbol on his forehead and he shocked Lily with a blot of lightning. Nickolas turned into a weird shadow woman and she laughed in an evil manner saying, (she speaks in Xana's voice) 'Those fools don't know what's coming. Having Odd fired was a really good idea. Goodbye Lyoko Warriors, and hello Aelita as well as the success of my plans!' (she briefly laughs like a manic then returns back to normal voice) I had to get out of there. I had to warn Odd and his friends before it was too late. I cut my clothes and removed my shoes to show that the rebellious dark side was on the loose, snuck out of the restaurant after Lily left, and quickly ran to find Odd before he and his friends were all dead. Any questions?

Yumi: You can do voice impersonations?

Grace: Yeah. It's one of the many things I can do with my powerful voice. Why do you ask?

Odd:That no good ghost girl... She's responsible for me losing my job?!

Grace: In a way, yes. The shadow woman is up to no good, and I can only guess she's an enemy of yours.

Jeremie: We know her too well, Grace.

William: Xana! Of course... She's been disguised as Nickolas all along!I knew it!

Grace: Xana? Who's Xana?

Ulrich/William: Oi vey.

A few long stories later...

Grace: Man, who knew it was the enemy all along?

Ulrich: Aside from William? None of us. She had us all fooled. We gotta stop her, and soon!

Hiroki: I agree. Now what do we do?

Jeremie: I have no idea. Sadly, we're running out of leads. We've looked high and low, far and wide... (yawns)Nothing... We've looked almost everywhere. Where have we not looked?

Ulrich: I'm not sure. I imagine most of us are tired, and we're in no shape to run around looking for Aelita, or face you-know-who. (Odd yawns loudly)

And shortly after, we went back to our homes and apartments where we lived. I didn't want to sleep, but despite my efforts to stay awake, I fell asleep on the couch after watching old soccer games.

(Yumi is seen running to William in a long white dress, who throws her arms around William wearing a tuxedo)

Yumi: William... I love you forevermore.

William: She's mine now, Ulrich. So back off! (Ulrich stops in his tracks) You never had a chance, you no good evil jealous jerk! Come Yumi, let us step up to the altar.

Yumi: You can't see the good guy William really is. You're the one who's really blind. Let us get away from this jealous jerk so he won't sabotage our nuptial day. (they walk forward hand in hand, smiling)

Ulrich: No..this.. this can't be.. the future? (Xana manifests next to him)

Xana: See, Ulrich? I told you that I know you.

Ulrich: You! Your responsible for this nightmare?

Xana: Not necessarily, but this is your worst fear. I know your past, present and future. And now, you are no better than your friends, Ulrich. (she slowly begins to walk around Ulrich in a circle, leaving a black energy trail as she does so) You're hiding even more secrets from your friends than everyone else is. You know I'm right, don't you? And while William may possess a deep, dark secret, he's never been the evil one, you have. You, Ulrich Stern, are truly evil. (Ulrich is surrounded by a circle of dark energy)

Ulrich: No.. it.. it can't be...

Xana: This is where the end begins! (she snaps her fingers, the dark surrounds Ulrich, the area turns black and white) It's over, Ulrich. Just give up... (she grabs his wrists) You can't fight the darkness within...

Ulrich: No! No! NO! (he wakes up in a panic, the colors return, he is seen on the couch, he breathes heavily, then lies back down on the couch) Thank goodness... It was just a dream... (he gets off the couch, standing up) But my dreams aren't even safe for me anymore. I can't sleep.. (he clutches his head in pain) She has to be wrong. I can't be bad. It's always been William... It's always been him. (sigh) I don't know how this can get any worse... If it even can get worse...

I drank some coffee and attempted to stay awake until Xana was defeated so she couldn't plague my mind with nightmares/visions. I knew that nobody would want me to do this, but they don't know about the nightmares or communications with Xana. How could I tell them now?


	31. Back to Where it All Began

It was four weeks since Aelita went missing. We were almost out of time... I now realized I should of told my friends what happened from the very beginning. So I tried to be honest with them and tell the Lyoko Warriors my secret, no matter how hard it may be for them to hear it.

Jeremie: Guys.. Are you listening? (sigh) There's something I should've...

(Odd hits his head by walking into a tree while looking at Jeremie)

Odd: Ow.. Dang it! (gasps) Oh no... I completely forgot something very important! (Sissi runs over to him)

Sissi: Odd, are you ok? What is it?

Odd: I'll be fine. A week ago, I had a vision. A red-cloaked figure with pink nails materalized herself onto Lyoko. I believe it was Aelita! I meant to tell you a week ago, but I got hit in the head and lost my memory of the vision! I'm so sorry guys...

Jeremie: It had to be her!

Grace: But wasn't the Supercomputer turned off many years ago?

Sissi: She could of turned it back on.

Jeremie: Well, there's only one way to be sure! To the Factory!

Using the Metro to get us most of the way there,we quickly got over to the Factory.

Jeremie: So the elevator door works after all. (they enter the lab area) From the supercomputer screen, we have a few cameras, which will tell us if Aelita was actually here or not. (he finds some footage and rewinds it, they see the red-cloaked figure type on the keyboard, an ID card of Aelita is seen, she enters the elevator with her hood up)

Aelita: I'm sorry my love, but I have no choice but to leave now. (she enters the scanner room) Defeat Xana... Stop her before it's too late. (she enters the scanner, the film ends)

Jeremie: Aelita.. She went onto Lyoko all alone?

Yumi: Apparently, Odd was now?

Jeremie: Well if we're going to let the new recruits go to Lyoko and search for Aelita, we need to take necessary measures and put them through the initiation ceremony.

Hiroki: Initiation? Is that painful?

The others went down to the scanner room, all three scanners were opened up, and of course, I saw what was going on down there with the camera in the room.

Odd: Sissi Delmas..

Ulrich: Grace Baudin..

Yumi: And Ishimaya Hiroki..

William: Do you swear to keep our secret?

Sissi/Grace/Hiroki: We swear.

William: Good answer. Do you still want to back out?

Hiroki: And miss out on the chance to fight Xana and her monsters? No way!

Grace: I said I wouldn't leave for Los Angeles to start my singing career until we find Aelita, and if that means going into Lyoko, then I will do it.

Sissi: Xana cost Odd his job. No way am I going to let her get away with it!

Jeremie: In that case, step into the scanners. (Hiroki, Grace and Sissi step into a scanner)

Afterwords, I assigned the recruits a veteran to prevent any other possessions by Xana.

Jeremie: Alright guys, I have a lot of people to virtualize and many places to virtualize you in. Yumi and Hiroki, you're up first. You siblings are going to the Polar Region.

Yumi: Good luck everyone! (they enter the scanners)

Jeremie: Transfer Yumi. Transfer Hiroki. Scanner Yumi. Scanner Hiroki. Virtualization. (the scanners open after a few seconds) Odd and Sissi, you're up next. You lovebirds are going to the Mountain Sector. Hope you brought your climbing gear.

Sissi: Good luck Grace. I believe you'll need it. (she and Odd step into the scanners)

Jeremie: Transfer Odd. Transfer Sissi. Scanner Odd. Scanner Sissi. Virtualization. (the scanners open again) Ulrich, I know she's not the prettiest girl in the world, but you and Grace are heading to the Forest Sector.

Ulrich: It's alright. I could be stuck with William, the incompetent idiot.

William: Hey! I'm right here ya know!

Grace: Come my fellow warrior, let us leave for Lyoko. (they step into the scanners, William folds his arms)

Jeremie: Transfer Ulrich. Transfer Grace. Scanner Ulrich. Scanner Grace. Virtualization. (the scanners open again) Sorry William, but you're all alone in the Desert Sector.

William: Well, sometimes it's better to be alone. (he steps into the scanner, arms still folded) Better alone then with the jealous jerk. (the scanner closes)

Jeremie: Transfer William. Scanner William. Virtualization.

After I pulled up William's ID card on the Supercomputer, I could of sworn I saw Xana-William instead of the real one, but it was only for a second. My eyes must be playing tricks on me. I tried not to worry about that too much. The fate of Aelita and the child she was carrying (which they still didn't know about), were in their hands now. All I could do was stay silent, hope they would find Aelita and hopefully, they wouldn't be too mad at me for being so quiet. Would they?

Xana (off-screen): They will find out the truth eventually, but by the time they do, it will be too late... (she manifests in front of Jeremie, he backs away nervously)

Jeremie: Xana... What are you doing here?

Xana: You know they're gonna find out. I'd love to destroy you, but I must stop your pathetic pals before they find Aelita and bring her home safe from my grasp. (she shocks Jeremie with a lightning bolt, knocking him against the wall) Sayonara, Belepois. (she turns into smoke and sinks through the floor)

With that, she turned into shadow and disappeared. Oh no... How could she of known we were here?


	32. Welcome to Lyoko

Me and Sissi were virtualized into the Mountain Sector. Not exactly my preferred choice,but we still looked through the area for any sign of Aelita while keeping an eye out for monsters. As for Sissi's Lyoko form, she looked breathtakingly beautiful.S he wore a royal purple princess gown and (I can only guess since her dress is so long) some very nice shoes to match. She also donned long violet dress gloves along with a golden crown with red jewels in it. She also appeared to carry a golden scepter with a red jewel on the top of it in her right hand.

Odd: Wow.. You look.. Beautiful. Have you seen yourself? (Sissi looks down at her Lyoko avatar and her eyes widen, Sissi smiles)

Sissi: Wow. I look like a princess! (she notices the scepter) But what's with the scepter?

Odd: I believe that is supposed to be your avatar's weapon.

Sissi: A weapon?

Odd: Did no one explain this to you? When your virtualized onto Lyoko, you gain some kind of weapon,whether it be a visible object or a power you can use against foes. For example, Yumi has tessen fans which when thrown, can devirtualize monsters. But others, such as me, have a power they can use to fight enemies. I fire Laser Arrows to get rid of Xana's monsters.

Sissi: But how could a scepter be used as a weapon? It's only carried by kings and queens. (she extends her arm a red laser beam fires from the staff, which nearly hits Odd)

Odd: Woah! You might want to be careful when firing that. Also, you should have some kind of special ability. I have no idea what it could be though. We better continue looking before Einstein begins to believe we're fooling around.

We looked through the entire Mountain Region, which actually took a while. Surprisingly, our Einstein didn't yell at or even talk to us once. Did something happen to him?

Odd: Rats, still nothing.

Sissi: Uh Odd, what are those? (she points to some Krankrelats)

Odd: Krankrelats. One of Xana's monsters. Although the weakest monster in Xana's army, they can still be a pain in the neck .Use the laser from your staff to devirtualize them! (Sissi does so, but they dodge, and Sissi gets hit) And by the way, try not to get hit too many times! You could be devirtualized if you do so!

Sissi: Now you tell me...

Odd: Laser Arrow! (he fires laser arrows at two Krankrelets, devirtualizing them, but Hornets are shown hovering in the air) Oh great, that's the last thing we need.

Jeremie (off-screen):Sorry I was gone for so long. Is everything ok?

Odd: We're just trying to battle some Krankrelets and Hornets. (facetiously) Everything's peachy keen!

Jeremie (off-screen): Sissi, do you know what your special power is?

Sissi: No, not a clue. (she sees Odd being shot down by a Hornets laser, runs over to defend him) Shield! (she forms a purple shield, deflecting the Hornets attacks)

Odd: What the? How is she using my shield power?

Jeremie (off-screen): I'm not quite sure...

Sissi: Neither do I... Laser Arrow!(she fires a laser arrow from her staff which hits a hornet)

Odd: Jeremie, is this supposed to be happening?

Jeremie (off-screen): I think I understand what's going on. Sissi can mimic the powers of anyone close by. Albeit it's temporary and most likely random every time. (Odd fires laser arrows at the last two hornets) By the way, did you find anything?

Odd: Nothing but the Krankrelats and Hornets we just defeated.

Sissi: Now what do we do?

Jeremie (off-screen): Go to the Forest Sector by getting to the nearest Way Tower. Ulrich and Grace have finished looking over the region, yet like you guys, found nothing. I'll try and get in contact with the other two groups.

Odd: We're on it, Einstein.

Sissi: Um, what's a Way Tower? (they begin running)

Odd: Glad you asked. To put it in simple terms, they're multi-purpose towers. And one of their many purposes is allow teleporting from sector to sector by going through a data stream which allows them to get to any region, except for Sector 5. (Odd holds Sissi's hand as they walk into the way tower and to the center of the platform)

Sissi: So, where's the portal?

Odd: There is none. You must go off the edge of the platform.

Sissi: Are you sure this is safe?

Odd: Completely. I've done it many times.

Sissi: Ok.. It's just... This all seems so strange. Lyoko Avatars, Way-towers, Monsters, Xana trying to capture Aelita for unknown reasons and she's still missing... This just doesn't make much sense to me. Especially since I didn't really know about it for so long. Am I really meant to be here?

Odd: Welcome to Lyoko, Sissi. I'm sure you'll get used to it in time. Come on, Ulrich and Grace are waiting for us.

Sissi: Alright, Odd. I trust you. (they walk to the ledge and dive into the data stream)

As me and Sissi's hands were intertwined, it seemed like nothing could go wrong. I wish I still had my anticipation, or future-flash power, because I wish I had known just how wrong I was.


	33. Ninja in Training

Alright, now that Odd's done saying how pretty Sissi looks in her avatar, let me tell you what my brother looked like. My brother wore a traditional ninja outfit in a bright shade of red, he only had a red bandana around his eyes and lacked a hood. He also wore black shoes and had orange armbands on his wrists. We were virtualized in the Ice Sector.

Yumi: Wow, little brother, you're rocking it. (he looks at himself)

Hiroki: Cool! I'm a ninja!

Yumi: You should have some kind of weapon .It might take you a while to find it.

Hiroki (while spinning some sais): Found it. Special ability?

Yumi: I don't know, but you should figure it out soon. In the mean time, we need to search for Aelita. (they walk around, looking for Aelita)

Hiroki: So, how did she even go missing in the first place?

Yumi: That's what I'd like to know. Jeremie's theory is that she ran away, believing Xana was after her, but I don't get it. Why would Xana still want Aelita? She's gotten the keys to Lyoko and escaped the Supercomputer, Franz Hopper has already been saved... (sigh) Nothing makes any sense.

Hiroki: Hey, big sis, is it just me, or does Jeremie seem to be hiding something from the rest of the group?

Yumi: I've thought that as well, but if it was really important, Jeremie would of said something about it.

Hiroki: Are you sure Aelita isn't down there? (he nearly walks off the ledge, but Yumi grabs his wrist)

Yumi: Hold on, Hiroki. One does not simply dive into the Digital Sea. (she drags him away from the edge )Take it from me, I thought I'd be stuck in the digital tide for good.

Hiroki: So, it's basically poisonous?

Yumi: I wouldn't say poisonous, but just stay out of there. Try very hard not to fall in.

Hiroki: Will do. And by the way, we've got company coming in at 4 o'clock.

Yumi: What's the welcoming committee this time, Jeremie? Hornets? Megatanks? Tarantulas?

Jeremie(off-screen): Bloks and Krabs, and there's about 10 of each. Sorry I'm late guys!

Yumi: Figures. Nobody said this would be easy! (she gets out her fans and throws them, destroying two Bloks, Hiroki runs over to the Krabs, dodging their lasers,and uses his sais to strike the Xana symbol, devirtualizing them)

Hiroki: Jeremie, do not get me wrong, I like my weapons, but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to use them. (Yumi is about to throw her fans)

Yumi: Ahh! (she is frozen by an ice beam from a Blok)

Jeremie (off-screen): Well, you better learn a fighting style fast. Your sister's been frozen and she'll be stuck like that for about three minutes!  
I may of been frozen, but I could still see anything in my range of eyesight and hear anything within earshot. Hiroki quickly got close to defend me from their attacks.

(Hiroki spins his sais, deflecting laser attacks right to the Krabs, he sees some Hornets)

Hiroki (sarcastically): Oh great. Just what I needed. Hey wasps! If you want me, come and get me! (he runs away with the Hornets flying after him)

I didn't know what was going on while I was frozen, but when I found Hiroki again, he was perfectly normal.

Yumi: Hiroki, is that you? The real you? Who are the guys I love?

Hiroki: Ulrich Stern and William Dunbar. You really should choose the former.

Yumi: Ok, it is you. You'd never want me to go for William.

Jeremie (off-screen): Alright, now that Hiroki has finished the monsters, go to the nearest Way Tower and head for the Forest Region. The others are waiting on you. Well, everyone but William anyway. He's a little busy.

Yumi: Doing what?

Jeremie (off-screen): He doesn't want me to talk about it.

Yumi: Um... Ok.

We quickly got over to the forest sector and found Ulrich, but Grace was nowhere to be found. Odd and Sissi also found Ulrich at the same time we did.

Yumi: Ulrich! So nice to see you! (she kisses him on the lips, he returns the kiss and looks into Yumi's eyes afterwards)

Ulrich: Nice to see you too, Yumi.

Odd: Hey, where's Grace?

Grace (off-screen): Are you sure you want to see my Lyoko form? I look like a monster.

Odd: You can't look that bad!

Grace (off-screen): Really? Then look up. (Odd does so)

Odd: Woah. That is wicked.

The rest of us looked up and saw what Odd meant. On the right of Grace, her long dress was white,wore a white slipper on her right foot, and a long white glove on her right arm. From her back, she had a white angel wing and a golden halo. But on the other side, the dress was black with a black slipper and black glove. She had a black bat wing with a red trim, and the other side of the halo was red with little horns.

Grace: I look like a freak. Why couldn't I have gotten a better outfit like Yumi's or Sissi's?

Odd: Grace, you look amazing. And besides, that outfit shows who are you really are.

Grace: Really? (she lands on the ground) I've always been ashamed whenever my inner demon got loose. Before I rebelled against Lily, she hadn't got loose in ten years.

Yumi: If it wasn't for that demon, we would be dead and Xana would have a guaranteed victory. Your little devil isn't as bad as you think she is. In fact, depending on which way you look at it, she's more good than bad. You shouldn't fight it, you learn to make peace with her.

Grace: Aw thanks. You're too kind.

Yumi: Well, I'm honest, like Will.

Ulrich: Speaking of which where is that little devil? (Yumi gives Ulrich a glare)

Yumi: Now was that really necessary?

Sissi: I won't insult William, but Ulrich is right, where the heck is he?


	34. Short Term Battle,Long Term Lie

I plunged my sword into the ground of the Desert Sector and looked at my reflection, seeing someone who should of gone away. The Xana-ifed me. Despite the fact that I was free from Xana's control, I still wore the Xana suit that was given to me, and of course, I still had the light-weight deadly sword Xana-Me used to devirtualize the Lyoko Warriors many times. I didn't find anything in the Desert Sector, and I was the only one who seemed to remember Sector 5, so I asked for Jeremie to take me there. As I left for Carthage, aka, Sector 5, I remembered what happened shortly after being possessed by Xana for the first time, before the destruction of Lyoko and me being at Xana's mercy for what seemed like forever...

(flashback, roughly six years ago, Xana-William is shown in his old Lyoko avatar in Carthage, sneaking up on Yumi in the chamber of Lyoko, by striking her in the back/heart area, she falls and begins to devirtualize)

Yumi: I knew we shouldn't of let you into our group. (she disappears, Xana-William looks at Yumi with regret)

I wanted to tell Yumi I didn't mean for this to happen. I wanted to hold her, tell her that I love her, but sadly, I had no real choice in the matter. Unlike most victims of Xana's possession, I remembered everything that happened while under her control. Even after all these years, I never truly forgave myself for everything I did.

(The Transport Orb drops William off, he runs into Carthage)

Jeremie (off-screen): So, what you plan to do?

William: Look for Aelita, devirtualize any monster I see, and if possible, kick Xana's digital butt.

Jeremie (off-screen): Yeah, if anyone can do that last part, it's you. By the way, how are you able to fight Xana when we... (William stops running and freezes up) William? William?!

William: Jeremie, I'd love to tell you my secret of success, but I've got a bigger problem at the moment! The Scyphozoa has returned!

Jeremie (off-screen): What? But how?

William: I don't know. (he manifests his sword) But I'm gonna be here a while.

Jeremie (off-screen): William! You can't be thinking about facing this monster all by yourself, are you?!

William: Yes, I am. Don't worry. This time, I'm ready. (he uses an energy wave from his sword to slice off some of the Scyphozoa's tentacles, it fires lasers from its two remaining tentacles, striking him in the chest, he drops his sword) Ouch... (he gets back up) Ok, this might take a while longer than I thought..

Jeremie (off-screen): William, you just lost 40 life points! If your going to defeat this monster all by yourself, I would advise extreme caution!

Ok, it would take too long to describe the fight in its entirety, but I can tell you a little bit of it. I had been fighting the jellyfish monster for over 20 minutes... I did not think the Scyphozoa had this many life points... Who knew defeating a monster with 500 life points all alone would be so difficult? At this point, I felt worn out and almost ready to cave in, but I knew I couldn't.

William: Jeremie, how many more life points does the Scyphozoa have left?

Jeremie (off-screen): 80, but you've lost your sword. And the Scyphozoa can now dodge your super smoke attacks. You're down to 20 life points, one more laser shot and you might as well say goodbye.

William: There's gotta be something I can do... I can't let the new recruits get possessed by Xana!

Jeremie (off-screen): Is that why you're doing this herculean task in the first place?

William: Well, that's one of the reasons for it. Jeremie, to be honest.. (the laser fires at William, he jumps, the laser hits his wristband and deflects right back to the Scyphozoa) I have an idea. It's risky, but it might just work. Hey, blubberface! (the Scyphozoa turns to face him) If you want me, come and get me! (the Scyphozoa charges after him, he cartwheels as the laser is fired, he uses his wristband to deflect the laser, devirtualizing the Scyphozoa in red pixels as he lands on the ground) That was close.

Jeremie (off-screen): Alright ,the others are waiting for you.

William: Hold on, Einstein. There's something I want to do. (he begins to run)

Jeremie (off-screen): And what would that be?

William: Hack into Xana's files and figure out her plans. (he stops at the edge of the Celestial Dome, the interface shows up, William begins to sift through the data)

Jeremie (off-screen): But the others are losing their patience, especially Yumi!

William: If I can figure out what's going on, we might be able to stop Xana and find Aelita!

Jeremie (off screen): Alright. Just don't dilly-dally!

I looked through several files for about 10 minutes or so, but I wasn't finding much. I found a video file of Aelita materalizing herself into the Forest sector, which everything appeared normal. But the next one I found was rather surprising. Jeremie was trying to keep the other Lyoko warriors from being bored so he wasn't even watching me. Good thing too...

William: ' _Dirty Little Secret'_? Hmm... (he opens it up, it shows Jeremie pacing in his room at a moderately fast pace, Aelita enters holding something in her hand)

Jeremie: Well, was our attempt successful?

Aelita: Jeremie.. I.. I'm pregnant.

Jeremie: Really? On our first try?!

Aelita: Yep. See for yourself. (she hands Jeremie something, the camera zooms in on it, it is revealed to be a positive pregnancy test)

Jeremie: This.. this is amazing!

Aelita: One month later we get good results. And you said it would be difficult.

Jeremie: Correction, I said it could be difficult. (they chuckle, William pauses the video)

William: Wait a second. Last I looked, Jeremie doesn't have any children. At least not yet... When was this? (he clicks on a button) August 11th, 2014.

I worked out the math in my mind and suddenly realized something. That was eight months ago! Aelita's been with his child for nine months and he didn't even bother to tell us?! I felt a medley of shock, anger and confusion. I wanted to ponder all the answers to the new questions that arose in my head, but once again, I didn't get the time.

Jeremie (off-screen): William, what did you find? (William turns around and gasps) William?!

William: Jeremie, I'd love to tell you, but I have two things for you; First off, you already know what it is, and second, I have a bigger problem at the moment! (Xana manifests in front of him, growling loudly) Oh no...

Xana: You meddling pest! First you defeat me with your secret weapon, and now you know too much information! I must destroy you before you get back to your friends! (she begins to form a big black ball of darkness) It's over, William! (he backs up to the edge)


	35. The True Evil

Ulrich: We've been waiting quite a while. Did he get devirtualized?

Grace: Shh.. Listen.. I hear something.. Sounds like.. William! On the far side of this sector! He's in trouble! We need to move! (Grace opens her wings, the others start running)

Odd: Hey, how do you know all of this?

Ulrich: Grace has powers which allow her to hear what's going on in the entire sector, maybe even all of Lyoko. In other words, very advanced hearing.

William (off-screen): Someone, help! (his is seen handing on to the edge, the hornets fire at him and he lets go) Ahh! (Odd and Sissi fight off the hornets, Yumi uses her telekinesis power to levitate William back to the ground, she hugs him)

Yumi: Oh, William, thank goodness your ok!

William: Don't thank me yet, honey. I brought company. (she lets go, still smiling)

Yumi: Oi vey. How many long lost "relatives" are mad that we didn't invite them to the big family reunion?

William: Um... Try.. All of them?! (the heroes gasp, Sissi does a high-pitched scream)

Before our eyes, unfolded the biggest army of Xana's monsters I'd ever seen. Every monster except for the Scyphozoa, the Kolossus and those monsters found in the Digital Sea were slowly marching towards us. Hornets, Bloks, Megatanks, you name it, she sent it. Xana was pulling out all the stops this time.

Hiroki: Oh Hornets...

Ulrich: Double Hornets. William, what did you do to make Xana so mad?

William: It's a long story, I'll tell you later!

Jeremie (off-screen): William, you're in no shape to fight those monsters after that severe beating. Take shelter in the nearest tower until you regain your strength.

(William sighs)

William: Alright. Sorry Yumi,but you and your friends are going to have to do without me. (he runs into the tower, Ulrich, Yumi, Hiroki,and Sissi get out their respective weapons, Odd begins to fire his laser arrows at the Krabs, devirtualizing them)

Ulrich: I can't believe this.. When we're done fighting here William owes us an explanation for this! (he uses his swords to devirtualize Creepers, Yumi uses her tessen fans to slice through Bloks, Sissi uses the laser from the scepter to destroy the Mantas)

Hiroki: Um, sis? There are dozens,if not hundreds of are the six of us gonna fight them?(he throws his spinning sais at the Hornets,devirtualizing them)

Yumi: I don't know, but we can't let them overcome us! They could get Will!

Ulrich: The monsters shouldn't be able to enter towers. William should be safe and sound.

Hiroki: Actually, they can. Yumi, you were frozen at this time, but a few Hornets followed me into one of the towers. If they can do that, other monsters probably can as well.

Odd: That's awful! If Xana is sending every monster out to devirtualize William, it can't be good. Laser Arrow! (he fires laser arrows at Megatanks, destroying them, Grace sings a high pitched opera note, destroying some Hornets, Bloks,and Krankrelats, stunning some Megatanks and Tarantulas, she pulls out a microphone, Yumi deflects an attack with one fan, she throws another one)

Yumi: Should we warn him? If Hiroki's statement is true, he's in real trouble! (Ulrich slices the legs of many different Krabs, Hiroki throws his sais at the Bloks)

Grace: Hiroki speaks with truth in his voice. William is danger of devirtualization.

We battled them for what seemed like hours, but in reality, Jeremie said it was about 80 minutes. Sissi, Hiroki and Yumi lost their weapons.

Yumi: There's too many of them! We can't keep fighting forever... (she is blasted down by a Krankelat's laser, she falls unconscious)

Ulrich: Yumi! (he runs over to her) Yumi... No... (he sees Krabs, Mantas, Megatanks, Creepers and Tarantulas coming this way) It looks like the end... Where is Aelita when we need her?

(William comes out the tower with his sword, he releases a very big energy wave from his sword, destroying a majority of the monsters)

William: Super smoke! (he fires super smoke at the last few monsters, finishing them) Yumi, Yumi... (she opens her eyes) The monsters are gone.

Afterwards, we interrogated him and he told us that he battled the Scyphozoa single-handed.

Yumi: Impressive work, William. (she stares at William admiring him)

Ulrich: Hold on a second, why is William still in his Xana uniform and still own the deadly blade Xana-William used on us? (she widens her eyes, then turns them back to normal)

William: Look, I may be in my old clothes and still have the same sword, but I'm still the good guy you all know.

Grace: I sense truth in his voice, but still I find this hard to believe. My mother once told me that actions speak louder than words. If you are truly William Dunbar, then prove it.

William: Fine then. (he drops his sword, gets close to Yumi and strokes her face) Look, Yumi, I know they don't trust me, but you do, right Yumi? (she looks down) You don't believe it's the real me, do you?

Yumi: I don't know... (William sighs)

William: I was hoping I wouldn't have to play this card, but it looks like I have no choice. (he grabs her right wrist and pulls her close)

Yumi: William, what are you...? (he kisses her on the lips, her eyes widen as she moans)

Much to my shock, he kissed her. Much to my dismay, she quickly succumbed to his charm and was all over him. He made a move on her, but this only confused me even more. William would never kiss Yumi so boldly like that. Especially in front of me! And the Xana outfit? Deadly sword?

 _It can't be the real William. This can't be real..._

Xana (off-screen): Oh, it's all is the real William. And besides, Yumi will eventually leave you behind. She doesn't really love you at all.

Ulrich (muttering): No.. no.. it can't be.. (he turns around, seeing Xana)

Xana: Join me, Ulrich. I'm the only one you can really trust. And besides, you are the true evil hidden from within. (he gasps, she turns into smoke, entering Ulrich)

Ulrich: No... NO! (he is being electrically shocked by black lightning bolts)

Yumi: Oh no... Not again! Ulrich!


	36. Xana's Gambit

Jeremie: Oh no, Ulrich! What's going on? William, could you give me a visual?

William (off-screen): I'm on it. (a screen shows Xana-Ulrich and the Lyoko Warriors in the Forest Sector, Yumi is backing away from Ulrich)

Yumi: No.. this can't be... (Xana-Ulrich laughs wickedly)

Xana-Ulrich: He's mine now. (Xana-Ulrich forms a cage of black energy)

Hiroki: What's happening?!

(Xana-Ulrich forms a ball of white energy and throws it at Odd, knocking him into the shadow cage and it forms white ropes binding his paws)

Odd: Hey, what is this?!

Xana-Ulrich: A cage and chains that don't release prisoners. Super Sprint! (Xana-Ulrich uses Super Sprint and runs towards Sissi, kicking her down, grabs her scepter and breaks it by snapping it in half with his knee, he throws the broken pieces aside, Sissi gets up, he kicks Sissi into the cage)

Sissi: Ulrich? What are you doing?! (he runs towards Hiroki, he uses his sais to make a x-cross, defending him from Xana-Ulrich's katanas, Xana-Ulrich kicks him down, takes his sais and destroys them, he flips Hiroki and throws him into the cage)

Yumi: I don't get it! What's going on?!

Jeremie/William: He's been directly possessed by Xana.

Odd: But how? Direct possession of a veteran of Lyoko shouldn't be possible! Darn chains...

Jeremie: I don't know what's going on, but you better be careful. Remember, Ulrich is one of the strongest fighters on Lyoko!

William: Don't remind me... (he manifests his sword from smoke)

Grace: You're going down, Shadow Woman! (she presses a purple button, the wireless mic charges up a purple lightning sword, she charges at Xana-Ulrich, but he dodges, and strikes her right wing with his sword) AHH! (she falls onto the ground, dropping her mic) Ow... (she continues to moan in pain, Xana-Ulrich throws her on her back into the cage, she screams in pain) You'll never.. get away.. with this!

Xana-Ulrich: It's Xana, you blasted meddling girl! If it wasn't for you, I'd have guaranteed victory by now! I should've had Lily destroy you as well as the others! (he is hit by William's sword in the stomach)

William: You'll never defeat us, Xana! (he uses his sword to try and hit Xana-Ulrich, but he holds his swords in a defensive x-position)

Xana-Ulrich: Don't you know you've already lost? (he kicks William down, he drops his sword, Xana-Ulrich throws a ball of energy of William)

William: Super Smoke! (he turns into smoke, dodging the attack,appears next to Xana-Ulrich, kicking him down)

Yumi: And just when I thought their rivalry doesn't get any worse...

Jeremie: Yeah. Xana or no Xana, Ulrich and William have been rivals since day one.

William: Ugh! (he is kicked into the cage without his sword)

Yumi: William! (Xana-Ulrich runs towards Yumi without his swords, he tries to kick her but she dodges, he trips her, she falls to her knees) No Ulrich! (he grabs her wrists) You're a Lyoko Warrior! You swore to it! (Xana-Ulrich loosens his grip on Yumi's wrists, he screams in pain, his eyes turn back to normal)

Ulrich: Yumi... I'm.. I'm so sorry. (he kicks her in the stomach and into the cage, his eyes are Xana symbols again)

William: Oh no.. We played right into Xana's hands. Normally I wouldn't say this, but we're doomed.

Sissi: Doomed? What do you mean doomed?! (Xana-Ulrich takes Grace's microphone, it turns red with a black Xana symbol on it, Xana-Ulrich begins to speak into it)

Xana-Ulrich: Aelita Belpois, listen very closely. I know you're hiding here somewhere on Lyoko! If you don't come over to the northern side of the Forest Sector in five minutes, I will throw your friends and three innocent civilians into the Digital Sea! Unless you want them lost in the digital tide, you will come here and face me!

Jeremie: Oh no...

I kept looking at my watch every few seconds. This was so bad. So so bad... I never felt more scared, worried and confused in my life! No matter what happened, it seemed Xana had victory in her hands. If Aelita wouldn't show up, Xana would throw the gang into the Digital Sea and they would be lost forever! But if Aelita did show, Xana would kidnap her for certain!

Xana-Ulrich: Where is Aelita? She should be here by now.

Grace: She'll come. Ugh! (she elevates her angel wing against the bars) And when she does, she'll destroy you, Xana!

William: And do you know she's coming?

Grace: I can hear movements from far away distances. That's how I found you and located you before the Hornets threw you into the Digital Void. In fact, she should be here right about...

Aelita (off-screen): Leave them alone!

Grace: Now... (Aelita slowly flies and sees Xana-Ulrich)

Xana-Ulrich: Well, it's about time...

I felt a very strange medley of fear and relief surge through me. I was worried we'd never find her, but she found us. But at the same time, she was about to face Xana. Flying slowly with her angel wings, landing gingerly on the ground, stood Aelita Belpois.


	37. Xana's Ultimatum

Aelita: Leave them alone, Xana! They don't have anything you want!

Xana-Ulrich: They don't, but you do...

Jeremie's angel seemed to freeze in her tracks. Her eyes seemed to be saying, _She's right..._

Aelita: I.. I can't surrender. I can't.

Xana-Ulrich: I thought you wanted to save your friends. Isn't that why you went out of hiding and went through so much trouble to get here? (Xana-Ulrich snaps his fingers, the cage shifts closer to the edge)

Aelita: Wait! I'll.. I'll fight you for them! If I win, you must release my friends, leave them and everyone and everything on Earth, whether they be living or not, alone!

Jeremie (off-screen): Aelita.. You wouldn't..

Xana-Ulrich: Really? Even in your current condition you'd be willing to fight me?

William appeared to be very worried. Aelita appeared to be a little surprised at first, but then continued glaring at Xana-Ulrich with daggers in her eyes.

Aelita: Yes, I will. To save my friends, I'll fight you, of any condition!

Jeremie (off-screen): Aelita,don't do it! It's a trap!

Sissi: Wait a minute, what do mean by condition?

Grace: What is this trickery Shadow Woman speaks of? (she clutches her injured wing) Ow!

Aelita: You.. don't know? (Xana-Ulrich laughs)

Hiroki: What's so funny?

Xana-Ulrich: The thing that you clearly don't know!

Odd: Ok, enough of these riddles! Would somebody spill the beans?! First we think Xana's been defeated, surprise, she's still alive! And now we're saying that Aelita has some kind of...

(Xana-Ulrich points his sword towards Odd's neck)

Xana-Ulrich: The only reason that I haven't thrown you into into the Digital Sea is because I find your stupidity mildly interesting.

Odd: Well, I find your blackmailing extremely malevolent.

Xana-Ulrich: Hey, nothing's better than blackmail. Ready Aelita?

Aelita: I.. I'm read..

William: Wait! I volunteer as tribute!

Aelita/Odd: William?

William: I may not know the entirety of your evil plan, but I know what you're trying to do to get there! I can't let you get away with it! At least make the final fight fair!

Xana-Ulrich looked at William as if the no good ghost girl possessing Ulrich was trying to read his mind. William smirked with confidence and Xana-Ulrich wasn't pleased.

Xana-Ulrich: Fine then. (Xana-Ulrich snaps his fingers, creating a black bubble around Aelita, she tries to break free with an energy field, then pounds her fists on the bubble twice) Give it up, Aelita. They can't hear you. (Xana-Ulrich snaps his fingers, William appears out of the cage, Xana leaves Ulrich's body, causing him to faint, and she pushes him aside)

Yumi: Wait! It's dangerous to go alone! Take this! (she uses her telekinesis and lifts the sword into William's hands)

William: Thanks Yumi. (he turns to Xana) Xana, for all that you've done, you will pay.

Xana (to William): You meddling pest. You'll pay for messing with my plans! (she throws a black ball of energy at William, he absorbs the energy with his sword and fires it back at Xana, who dodges it, she tries to fire a ball of yellow light at William's eyes, but he dodges it)

Odd: Well, the war has begun...

Jeremie: And if William loses... The consequences could be devastating.

Grace: I wish I could hear what Aelita is saying... Ugh...

Odd: You can't hear anything in her prison?

Grace: Nothing that I can clearly understand. I hear some muffled shouts and something else..

Xana: Is that all you got, William? (she dodges his Super Smoke, William strikes Xana with his sword, knocking her down, she growls at William)

William: You talk too much, Xana. (they charge towards each other)


	38. The Battle for Aelita

The Battle for Aelita had begun. Ulrich was unconscious for most, if not, all of the duel.

(William dodges another shadow ball, he attempts to strike Xana with his sword, but she dodges it)

Xana: You fool! Do you really think you could defeat me? None of the other warriors could fight against me. (William strikes Xana down with his sword)

William: You were saying? (William charges towards Xana)

Yumi: Jeremie, do you know what's going on? What the heck is Xana talking about?

Jeremie(off-screen): No, not at all.

Grace: Normally, I'd listen to you guys and be onto him, but the pain in my wing is making me less suspicious. Ow! Could one of you devirtualize me?

Odd: I don't think it would do much good. Also, my claws are also binded with these digital chains. I'm pretty much powerless.

Hiroki: Oh, this is awful... How could Ulrich have been possessed by Xana? (Yumi and Jeremie sigh)

Yumi/Jeremie (off-screen): I wish I knew...

The fight continued on for a very long time... I was beginning to remember some of the many times that I had to fight against Xana-William. I pretended to hate William so I could fight his Xana-ified self, but no matter how hard I tried, I kept falling for him.

(flashback, six years ago)

(Yumi is lying down on the Ice Sector ground, William pins her down and holds up his sword, ready to slay her)

Yumi: No, William! You're a Lyoko Warrior! You swore to it!

(William widens his eyes in realization,drops his sword on the ground, Yumi is then seen in the Desert Sector, Xana-William strokes Yumi's face then pushes her off the edge, she grabs his wrist and they begin to fall into the Digital Sea, Yumi is in the Mountain Sector, lying on the ground, Xana-William strikes her with his sword, devirtualizing her, Yumi is on the Forest Sector ground, she looks at William)

Yumi: William... (he strikes her with his sword,devirtualizing her, Yumi is seen devirtualizing in Sector 5 with Xana-William, looking at her with slight regret) I knew we shouldn't of let you into our group.

(Yumi is seen in the scanner, the flashback ends)

Sissi: There has to be a way to break these bars.

Yumi: I wish I could say the same...

Odd: Your optimist-like behavior is fading, isn't it?

Yumi: Is it that obvious?

Grace: It's painfully obvious... Ow...(she clutches her wing) Dang it... That evil Shadow Woman must be stopped!

Odd: Hey, Jeremie, how come you haven't reprogrammed the others weapons yet?

Jeremie (off-screen): Xana's thrown a bug into the program. I've been trying to get your weapons to you, but it's taking much longer than usual.

Sissi: Does this usually happen?

Jeremie (off-screen): No, it normally doesn't. And uh.. Uh oh.

Yumi: Uh oh? Why uh oh?!

Jeremie (off-screen): The scanners are down... Xana's thrown a wretch into the materalization program!

Sissi: Meaning?

Jeremie (off-screen): If any of you are devirtualized, you'll be erased from existence. Gone for good. (sighs) Xana's thought of everything.

Grace: Oi vey...

Yumi: William, be careful!

I was worried about William, how Ulrich would react when he'd wake up to this, and now a not-so-new thought was beginning to nag me. I thought that Jeremie was hiding a secret. Even though I didn't know what it was, I knew he was hiding something from us.


	39. You're Too Late

(William strikes Xana with his sword)

William: You just won't quit,will you?

Xana: You'll never stop me, William Dunbar! You know your end is near!

The bad thing was, I was worried that she was right. And I thought fighting the Scyphozoa was difficult. It's not fighting Xana that was difficult, but rather fighting her for so long. She never seemed to tire out, but my body was getting more exhausted every minute we battled. I couldn't keep this up much longer, but I knew I had to defeat her. I didn't know what Xana's intentions were, but I knew one thing was certain; they couldn't be good!

Xana: Is that all you got?

William: Are you kidding me? I'm just getting started.

Xana (sarcastically): Very funny. You've been fighting me for over an hour now. Why haven't you been showing me what you can really do?

I was running low on energy and strength to continue fighting Xana through just my super smoke and my sword. But I still carried on, fighting Xana with ferocity.

(William charges towards Xana, she trips him, and takes his sword)

Yumi: William!

Xana: You are a fool, William. I used to be your master. I know how you fight, and you're a mere servant. I may not be able to possess you anymore thanks to your hidden power, but I can still destroy you! (she throws a ball of black lightning at him, he barely dodges)

Sissi (under her breath): Hidden power?

Hiroki/Odd: What is she talking about? (Grace moans in pain, Xana throws a ball of white light at William's eyes, he deflects it with a black shield, he throws two red lightning bolts at Xana, only for her to dodge them both)

William: I may not know the entirety of your plan, Xana, but mark my words,whatever it is, you won't get away with it! Super Smoke!

(he fires super smoke at Xana, knocking her down, he tries to summon his sword, but Xana uses her powers to grab it, she holds it in her hands)

Xana: You haven't realized my grand plan? You're so close to figuring it out.

William: I am? (he dodges a ball of black energy thrown at him)

Xana: Remember the info you found in Sector 5? (Xana breaks William's sword, then blasts a beam of white energy towards him, but he creates a white shield, absorbing the attack)

I tried to think to myself about what Xana could possibly want while avoiding her energy blasts. Think William, I told myself. I found out that Aelita's pregnant. I already knew Xana wanted to capture her... Eventually the gears in my head started to turn, and I came to realize what Xana's plan was.

(William gasps and freezes up)

William: No.. it.. it can't be... She wouldn't...

Xana: So you've finally figured it out? It's too bad cause you're too late. (she surrounds him in black rings of energy, she levitates him over the edge of the Forest Sector)

William: You'll never get away with this, Xana! Your malevolent plan will never succeed!

Xana: On the contrary, I have just claimed victory. You're too late, William. No one can stop me now. Any last words to your former mistress before I destroy you? (William remains silent) Really? Nothing? Well then, goodbye William! (she snaps her fingers, the black rings break, William begins to fall towards the Digital Sea)

Yumi (off-screen): William!

As I began to fall towards the Digital Sea, I knew I had failed. It was over... We lost... and Xana had won... The last thing I heard was Yumi's scream and a faint sound of crying...


	40. It's Over Now,What Have You Done?

I heard a very loud scream and immediately woke up.

Ulrich: Huh? What happened?!

Xana: It's a shame you were knocked out. You missed out on a rather good show. William Dunbar was defeated and thrown into the Digital Sea grace a moi. (Xana snaps her fingers, the black bubble around Aelita is replaced by rings of super smoke, her mouth is binded with black rope) Game's over, Ulrich. I have won, and William has lost.

Ulrich: No... this, this can't be...

Hiroki: Ulrich, do you know what you've done?

Ulrich: Oh no.. Sadly I remember everything!

Xana: You're too late, Ulrich. Aelita's mine now!

Ulrich: You tricked me! (he points at Xana)

Xana: You have no one to blame but yourself! (Ulrich hangs his head in shame) Tell me, Ulrich, was trying to learn William's secret and destroying him all you dreamed of? Was it worth it?

Yumi: Ulrich. (she puts her hands on the bars) It's over now... What have you done?

Ulrich: Guys... There's so much to explain. And sadly, something tells me that we're out of time for explanations.

Xana: Oh you have time, just not very much. The scanners are down, an army of monsters is slowly making its way over here to devirtualize your friends, and I have to get Aelita back to Earth so I can carry out my plans.

(Aelita gets the rope off her mouth)

Aelita: But if the scanners are down, how will you get me back to Earth? I thought you needed me alive.

Xana: Oh yes, very much alive and well. Don't you worry, I thought of everything. (she forms a black portal at the edge of the Forest Sector) That portal will take us to a secret location in the human world. Everything's been set in place. Nothing can stop me now!

Aelita: No... Oh no, no, no, no, no... (Xana floats over to Ulrich, she puts her hands on his shoulders)

Xana: You know, you don't have to suffer their fate. You can join me for real, and become my servant. Much less painful than being devirtualized and lost forever...

Ulrich: No way. You lied to me!

Xana: In your dreams, did I really lie to you, Ulrich? (he widens his eyes in realization, then looks at Xana sadly)

Ulrich: I don't even know the truth from a lie anymore... (she gets her hands off Ulrich)

Xana: Tell you what, for all your trouble, I'll tell you William's secret and tell my monsters to keep you around. (she cuffs her hands around Ulrich's ear, she whispers into it) William had half of my original power and had my life force within him for a year. It is because of him, of this, that I am still alive. After my resurrection, he still had those Xana super-powers. That's how he was able to grab me when no one else could. (she backs away from him)

Ulrich: So that's why you wanted him destroyed so badly... Now you're back at full power.

Xana: I soon will be, after I recover my hidden power within the Digital Sea. But at the moment, I have more important matters to attend to.

Aelita: You'll never get away with this, Xana!

Xana: I already have. (to Ulrich) Well, you've rejected my offer of being my servant, so I'm afraid this is goodbye. (she walks towards the portal) Oh, and give my regards to the monsters. (she continues to walk towards the portal)

Ulrich: Super Sprint! (Ulrich runs after her, she uses super smoke forcing Aelita through the portal)

Xana: So long, Ulrich... (she jumps through the portal and it disappears)

Ulrich: NO! (he stops running, he nearly falls off the edge) I can't believe it... (he drops to his knees)This.. this is all my fault...

Yumi: I can't believe this... First we lose William, then we find that Ulrich was consorting with Xana, and now Aelita's been captured!

Grace: Oh no... I hear monsters in the distance... (she clutches her injured wing) Ow... We have only a minute before they arrive...

I never felt so terrible in my life. All of my friends, including Yumi, were in grave danger, Xana used me like a tool to capture Aelita, and I even felt kinda bad about William being gone. If I didn't listen to her, none of this would be happening. I couldn't help but blame myself for everything. I felt tears about to fall from my eyes, and I made a grueling effort to keep them from falling. I didn't want to cry, but I felt so sad...

Hiroki: Ulrich, what have you done? (a tear falls from his eyes as he blinks)

Ulrich: No... this, this can't be how it all ends...


	41. The War Continues

I couldn't believe what I had just seen. Ulrich possessed by Xana, William thrown into the Digital Sea, and Aelita captured all in one trip to Lyoko?!

 _Oh no..._

This was so not good!

Odd: I hear you Jeremie! Got any advice for us? We could really use it right now!

Jeremie: Ulrich, try to protect the others without being devirtualized. Ok, I've finally managed to remateralize one of your weapons.

Hiroki: Which one?

Jeremie: Yours actually. (Hiroki picks up his sais on the ground of the cage)

Hiroki: As much I like having my weapons back, I don't think it'll help us in the situation we're in.

Yumi: We have to at least try! Use your sais and try to get us out of here! (Hiroki tries using his sais to break the bars but nothing happens)

Hiroki: It's no use. These bars are too strong! (he strikes his sais against the bars as he speaks) That no good, damned Xana! (the bars begin to burn up) What the?!

Jeremie: I don't know it's possible, Hiroki's sais are on fire! (he looks at his sais, which have flames on them)

Sissi: They seem to be activated by Hiroki's anger. Hiroki, continue ranting to break those bars! Channel your anger!

He followed Sissi's advice. Amazingly, the bars burned up,creating an entrance large enough for the other Lyoko warriors to get out. Hiroki's sais had the power of fire inside them! I was completely amazed by our small, yet good fortune. I quickly materalized the other weapons and tried to help my friends stuck on Lyoko.

Jeremie: Alright guys, now try to avoid devirtualization until I can get the scanners online!

Grace: Easier said than done! OW! (she clutches her wing in pain) This pain is getting more unbearable each passing minute! (she falls to the ground)

Jeremie: Oh no.. Her pain is making her weaker. Somebody protect her!

Odd: Laser arrow! (Odd fires laser arrows at the Krabs surrounding her)

I started working like I was mad (in this case,I was mad) and tried to focus on getting the scanners online. But doing that while trying to keep your friends safe in combat and protect them devirtualization? Not exactly a walk in the park. I was the scared general in this war that we were losing, and I had to keep the remaining soldiers alive, or face the consequences for our failures.

Jeremie: Good news guys, the scanners are...

Grace: AHHH! (she is stabbed in the back by a Krab and is devirtualized)

Odd: Grace!

Jeremie: Don't worry, I got the scanners up just in time. (he looks at Grace in the scanner room, falling out onto the ground, a laser shooting sound is heard) Alright, now just try and defeat the monsters if you can, and I'll bring in the survivors. (the elevator door opens, Jeremie does a double take realizing who it is) William? You're still alive?! But how is that possible?

William: Long story. (he lets go of Grace, her back lands on the ground)

Grace: Ow!

William: Sorry... First we need to tend to Grace's injury.

Jeremie: Do you have any idea what happened after you fell into the Digital Sea?

William: No, but I have a general idea. Go back to the supercomputer and help out the others. I'll tend to Grace.

I don't know what he was doing, but it seemed to be working. He somehow got Grace onto a large table, so that someone could give her a massage. When did we even get a table?

(Odd and Sissi walk into the Lab after getting off the elevator)

Odd: Grace! Are you ok?!(he runs over to her)

Grace: Odd, could you massage my back?

Odd: Uh...

Sissi: Go ahead. She needs to be relieved from her agony.

Ulrich: Yumi... I know there's going to a lot of explanation needed, but..(Yumi is devirtualized by a Hornet's laser) Yumi! (Ulrich devirtualizes the Hornet by slicing off its wings, he charges towards the Bloks, destroying them all, then destroys every other monster on the field) Alright, Jeremie. The monsters have been defeated.

Jeremie: Well done, Ulrich. I'll bring you back in. (Ulrich is devirtualized) Phew. That was close.

Grace: Way too close for any comfort... (William hangs his head in shame)

William: This is all my fault... Aelita's gone...

Jeremie: William... I'm going to need to do some interrogation with you once Yumi and Ulrich get back up here.

William wasn't really listening. Odd and Sissi strapped him into the lie detector chair and the former went back to healing Grace.

 _Well, Jeremie, at least you saved your other friends and William's still alive,_ I said, trying to be optimistic. _But Aelita's gone._ I reminded myself... _Oh, Aelita, where are you?_


	42. The Host of Xana

Me and Sissi saw that Grace was taken up to the lab, and so we went there in an effort try to alleviate her back pain. Despite the fact that she was out of Lyoko, the right part of her back, mostly the shoulder blade, was still in a lot of agony.

Grace: I feel so weak...

Grace lied on the hardwood table Jeremie had (since when did he have that down here?) so I could give her a back massage. Sissi and Jeremie turned away as I began to massage her back. I was very surprised that my girlfriend wasn't staring at me with daggers in her eyes.

Grace: Ugh! Ugh.. oh.. Ah.. That feels nice. (Odd continues to massage Grace) A little higher. (the elevator opens, revealing Yumi and Ulrich) Argh...

Yumi: Good news, guys, we're alive. (Grace moans in pain)

Ulrich: Um, Odd? Why is Grace lying on her stomach on a wooden table?

Odd: Due to you.. (clears throat) Excuse me, Xana-you using your sword to break Grace's wing on Lyoko, she's still in a lot of pain.

Ulrich: That explains it. I'm surprised that your girlfriend isn't breathing fire down your neck.

Sissi: Under normal circumstances, I would be very jealous. But considering how badly Grace is hurt, I don't blame Odd for trying to help her out.

Jeremie: If Grace was attacked like that in the real world, her back would be broken. She might even be dead.

William: Not to interrupt anything, but could somebody tell me why I'm tied to an electric chair?

Jeremie: William, you're finally awake! We can begin interrogation.

Odd: Interrogation?

Jeremie: I have reason to suspect that William and Ulrich are hiding something from the group, but William is being interrogated first. If either of them lie while strapped to the electric chair, they will be painfully shocked.

Yumi: Are you sure this is safe?

Jeremie: It won't kill them, but it will hurt.

Ulrich: Interrogated? Then let me ask him this question; right before Xana disappeared, she told me that you have some of her power and that you're responsible for her being alive. Is this true? (William sighs)

William: It's rather complicated. You see, before Aelita and her father defeated Xana with Jeremie's multi-agent program, she split her life force into two so that she could be reborn. Jeremie and the original Lyoko crew, defeated Xana, freed me from her control, saved Franz Hopper, and decided to try and find Anthea Schaffer. Xana was defeated, or so we thought. Exactly one year after her defeat, the host of Xana went back to the Factory just for the memories of the place. He was knocked out by Xana's reawakening. Xana left her host behind, and conjured a lot of lightning bolts to kill him. Her attack would of killed a normal person, but when she transferred her life force into her host, she unknowingly gave him half of her power as well. When Xana's former host woke up, he discovered those powers and vowed to keep them secret from everyone. He secretly used his powers for years, never believing that Xana could still be alive. That is, until now.

Odd: You're Xana's former host, aren't you?

William: Sadly, it's true. It's because of these powers that I was able to physically grab and fight Xana when no one else could, and that's why she wanted me destroyed so badly. She thinks she'll be able to recover her lost power, but she is mistaken.

Ulrich: So, she really wasn't lying...

William: Yes, I have Xana's powers. It's a blessing and a curse. I say it's time we interrogate Ulrich. I don't think I'm the only one with a secret.

Jeremie: I agree. (he releases William, Sissi and Odd grab Ulrich's arms)

Ulrich: Is this really necessary?

Odd: Sadly, it is.


	43. The Truth Tumbles Out

I couldn't believe this. William had secret powers for years. What else could be hidden from us? Eventually, Odd and Sissi got Ulrich in the electric chair.

Yumi: How did Xana possess you?

Ulrich: I'm not so sure. I think she broke through all of my mental defenses.

Yumi: How could she have done that? And why were you so leery of William in the first place?

Ulrich: To those of you who were with me at the Factory on Valentine's Day, do you remember that William was the only one who could physically hurt Xana while the rest of us couldn't even lay a finger on her?

Odd: Uh huh. What about it?

Ulrich: After getting a harsh scolding from Yumi, I sat on the ground and thought to myself, "William has to be hiding something. How else could he of defeated Xana?" That evening, Xana came to me in my dreams and told me that I was right. Ever since then, I wanted to find out what William was hiding from us. So when I was asked if I had any encounters with Xana aside from the Factory and the deserted hotel, I lied and said I didn't. I... I just..couldn't trust William. I couldn't...

Jeremie: Ulrich, how could you?!

Grace: What happened after the first encounter?

Ulrich: She kept coming back. She told me that Jeremie was hiding something from us like William was, and that Odd and Yumi could of been hiding something from me and the rest of us as well. She also tried to convince me to join her, but knowing that she was the enemy, I refused.

William: Let me guess, you told her about my fear of spiders,didn't you?

Ulrich: As Xana tried to seduce me into joining her, she convinced me to tell her William's phobia, which is probably why William was attacked by several poisonous spiders. Three days ago, Xana came again, and I think she tried to possess me. After she failed, I vowed that I would stay awake until she was defeated.

Hiroki: So, how did she end up possessing you?

Ulrich: I was getting to that. When I saw that William had some souvenirs from his time as Xana's servant, I had a hard time believing it was the real William. When he kissed Yumi, I thought it couldn't be him because the real William wouldn't kiss her so boldly, especially in front of his rival. However, Xana told me that it was really him and that Yumi didn't love me. I realized that William was never the evil one, and I was the true evil this whole time. I was wrong about him... and myself. This realization caused my mental barrier of defenses to crumble, allowing Xana to take over me.

Jeremie: Oh dear... I think I know know what that prophecy meant...

Ulrich: Huh?

Jeremie explained to us the weird prophecy he heard almost two weeks ago.

Yumi: The truth will make them ache...

William: But there's one thing that hasn't been said yet.

Jeremie: Huh? What do you mean?

William: Jeremie, you're asking yourself a stupid question.

Ulrich was released from the chair and William was strapped back into the device.

Sissi: William, is Jeremie hiding something from us?

William: Yes, he is.

Yumi: Well what is it?

William: Aelita is pregnant. (everyone gasps but Jeremie) Need I say more? (Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi angrily glare at Jeremie, while Grace, Sissi and Hiroki appear with dumbfounded looks)

Jeremie: Uh... de.. Ugh..


	44. Why Didn't You Tell Us?

Ulrich: Jeremie...

Yumi: You have some explaining to do!

Odd: I can not believe this! You made love with Aelita and got her preggers and you didn't even bother to tell us?! Your closest friends?! Cousin or not, I should of known about this a long time ago! (the new recruits exchange confused looks)

William: So, Jeremie, tell us, why didn't you tell us this earlier?

Jeremie: Well.. (sigh) After the wedding, it seemed like the original Lyoko group was slowly drifting apart, creating our own separate realms.

Sissi: Separate realms? Could you elaborate that?

Jeremie: Think about it. You and Odd were already living in an apartment for two years, still trying to achieve your dreams of fame and fortune while paying for all of your necessities. Ulrich and William were still fighting over Yumi, and for a while, she was shifting from one job to another. She was a police officer, waitress at a Korean style restaurant, and a few various others. Eventually, she decided to be a detective. In fact, I'm actually paying her to help me solve this mystery.

Yumi: Detective or not, I'd still help him solve the mystery of madness either way.

Jeremie: Anyway, while all of that was going on, me and Aelita were slowly preparing ourselves for the future.

Ulrich: But if that's the case, why didn't you tell us when we returned? (Jeremie sighs)

Jeremie: Because, Ulrich, if I did tell you guys, you would have lost your minds. If you knew from the very beginning what was going on, you'd be just as worried as I was. I didn't want to make the situation worse. That's one reason. Another reason would be, if I did tell you, I thought you might be mad at me for being such a dirty little liar.

Grace: Any other reasons?

Jeremie: Yeah. The most important reason, was.. I was worried of what would happen to group. If I told you guys, you'd be worried even more sick, lost your minds like I did, and in the mist of the confusion, Xana would of truly been able to take us down. Pick us off one by one. Sissi, Grace and Hiroki wouldn't know about any of this, and be too confused to do anything.

Hiroki: You thought that would happen?

Jeremie: I thought it could happen. That's why I didn't say anything. Also, I didn't want to face the wraith of Aelita's parents.

Grace: And that would be bad because...?

Jeremie: What they know, is the opposite of what you knew for weeks. (the elevator opens)

Franz Hopper: Jeremie Belepois! You're in trouble! (he walks towards Jeremie, then grabs his wrist, the elevator door opens again, revealing a pink haired woman)

Anthea: Waldo, is this really necessary? You know this isn't his fault.

Franz Hopper: Yes, I'm sure. And this is his fault.

Hiroki: Um not to sound rude, but who are you guys?

Franz Hopper: Your friends of Jeremie Belepois, right? (they all nod) I'm Waldo Franz Schaffer, and this is my wife, Anthea. But you guys most likely know me as Franz Hopper.

Yumi: So what brings you here, Mr. Schaffer?

Franz Hopper: I've heard rumors of strange events going on in Paris, more specially, the fact that my daughter was missing. (Jeremie gulps)

William: But how do you know all of this? You guys live in Lyon most of the time, don't you?

Anthea: We do, but regardless of what the situation is, the general public is beginning to notice that something's wrong.

William: What? But how? We're such a quiet and reserved group. (Anthea takes out a video tape and some other stuff)

Anthea: I'll show you.

I thought to myself, _Oh dear... If the general public knows strange things are going on, this could get bad..._


	45. What Happened?

Anthea set up a video camera and a screen, then inserted a CD of a recent news broadcast with today's date on it. March 11th, 2015. Once the screen loaded, we saw a woman with red hair, blue eyes and pale skin, who looked similar to Milly, a girl we knew from Kadic Academy. Apparently, this was her mom.

Tiana: Good morning, people of France! This is Tiana Solovieff, reporting to you live from a very popular and well known restaurant, Lily's Gourmet By the Bay. (the camera shifts to show the restaurant) For over a year, this place was popular for it's gourmet food and fancy atmosphere to match. But the restaurant has been closed for several days, so now several people ask, will Lily's Gourmet By the Bay go away? And what happened to Lily? (the camera shifts back to Tiana) To find out what happened to Lily Delmas, the owner of the restaurant, I'm here with local police officer Henry Dunbar. So, Mr. Dunbar, what happened? (Henry Dunbar is shown outside the police station)

Officer Henry: You see, only five days ago, Ms. Delmas was arrested for trying to aid a criminal in killing several targets, including her cousin, Sissi, and two of her former employees, Odd Della Robia and Grace Baudin.

Tiana: And just who was this criminal that Lily assisted?

Officer Henry: A murderer by the name of Dougall Stones. Until my nephew, William Dunbar, had accidentally shot him, Dougall was one of the worst criminals in all of Paris. We had been trying to track him down for weeks. Anyway, after Dougall was killed, William attempted to shoot Lily down, but I grabbed her wrists before he could do any major damage.

Tiana: And why did Lily want those people murdered in the first place?

Officer Henry: That my friend, is beyond my realm of knowledge. If you want answers, I suggest that you talk to Lily's cousin, Elizabeth Delmas.

Tiana: Ok then. Thank you for your information. (the scene is fast-forwarded to Sissi nearby the Eiffel Tower) Right here, we have Elizabeth Delmas, the cousin of Lily Delmas.

Sissi: It's Sissi. What do you want to know about my evil cousin Lilith? (Tiana rises an eyebrow) That's her real name.

Tiana: Oh. Well, I just want to know why she tried to kill you and your friends.

Sissi: To be honest, me and Lily hated each other ever since we were little girls. Since I was 10 years old, I had visions that she would go after me and attempt to kill me, but I never expected that day to come so soon. Also, during the attack, me and William Dunbar, a friend of mine, came barging in trying to save our friends. So I know why Lilith targeted me, but I have no clue why she went after my future fiance or the rest of our friends.

Tiana: If you don't know why your cousin targeted your friends, do you think I could talk to her to get some answers?

Sissi: You could try, but she can be rather stubborn, and may refuse to talk.

Tiana: Thanks for the tip. (the scene is fast-forwarded to Lily in prison) So, Lily, I want to know why you tried to kill your cousin and all of her friends.

Lily: Well, it varies from person, I hated Jeremie Belepois for physically hurting me, Odd betrayed me to hang with his friends, and et cetera. But one of my former employees told me to destroy all of them, except for one guy. I don't know why he wanted him alive...

Tiana: And just who was this employee who convinced you to destroy them?

Lily: His name is Nickolas Poliakoff. For about the last eight months, he worked as a busboy, but well... Here's the thing. I don't know if my eyes were played tricks on me, if I'm insane or what, but I somehow remember Nicholas turning into some kind of shadow, laughing like a wicked witch. I think someone was impersonating him. I don't know, my memory is failing me...

Tiana: Ok then. One final question for you; Why did Jeremie hurt you? What did he do?

Lily: He knocked out a tooth by punching me in the face and kicked me down. Odd told him that I thought Jeremie had no chance of finding Aelita, his wife, who's been missing for who knows how long. (the scene is switched to Nicholas in a school locker room)

Nickolas: Look, I honestly do not remember ever working for anyone called Lily Delmas. Last I recall, I work at Cours Cyrano as a wrestling coach, and sometimes various other jobs... But anyway, if you say I worked at Lily's Gourmet By the Bay when I clearly don't recall ever working there, I see two possibilities here.

Tiana: And what are those possibilities?

Nickolas: Number one, I worked there for some time, got amnesia and don't remember, or number two, the more likely answer, someone took my identity and impersonated me for their own reasons.

Tiana: But who would impersonate someone like you? And why?

Nickolas (sigh): I don't know. I have no clue who impersonated me, or why they took my identity, but I can tell you one thing; I don't like it.

Tiana: And there you have it, folks. We may not know what's going on, but we do know that something is terribly wrong. Did Lily actually capture Aelita without anyone's notice? Did Aelita impersonate Nickolas and try to destroy her business from within to get revenge? Is there some bigger force at hand tying all of these events together? No one really knows, but it makes the mystery of madness worth solving. Join us next time on Mysteries of the World. (the clip ends)

Franz Hopper: So, what's the deal?

Jeremie: Well, it's a long story...

Ulrich: Long story short, Xana found a way to survive using William to hold half her life force for a whole year. This in turn, accidentally gave him special powers. Almost a month ago, we found that Xana was back and more powerful than ever. For the last few weeks, we have been trying not only to find Aelita, but uncover Xana's evil plans as well and put a stop to them.

Franz Hopper: So, what happened to my daughter?

Ulrich: She was captured... (he hangs his head in shame as Anthea and Franz Hopper gasp) And I can only blame myself.


	46. The Threefold Plan

Sissi: This is getting out of hand...

Grace: Agreed. If normal civilians are noticing all this strange activity, then things are definitely getting out of control. What do we do?

Franz Hopper: If only we knew what Xana's plan was...

Ulrich: I think we do have someone who knows what her plan is. Isn't that right, William?

William: Yeah. Right before she threw me into the Digital Sea, I figured out Xana's threefold plan.

Anthea: Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't falling into the Digital Sea usually mean instant deletion or death?

Yumi: Normally it does. I have a hunch that William used his fancy superpowers to get out of there, but we'll discuss that later.

Odd: So what exactly is Xana's triple trouble plan?

William: Being a threefold plan, it has three parts; destruction, domination and revenge. Destruction, well, it's not good in any way. She wants to destroy the most of, if not, the entire country of France, and everyone in it, except herself and Aelita. For domination, she plans to use her robot army, which she has been rebuilding and expanding over the last few years, to conquer the rest of the world.

Jeremie: And as for revenge?

William: Oh dear... Xana's plan for revenge is a very cruel one... If you knew what it was... I just don't think that you could handle the truth. Especially you Jeremie...

Jeremie: What, why? What is it?

Ulrich: Spit it out, William! (William sighs)

William: Xana... She... she... (he inhales then speaks in a loud voice) She wants to take Aelita and Jeremie's child as she carries out her plans for domination and destruction! (they all gasp in horror)

I was too shocked to gasp or respond. As I heard those words, I froze up... And fainted. A few minutes later, I regained consciousness after feeling an electric shock "revive" me.

(Jeremie's eyes flutter open, he looks up at the people surrounding him)

Hiroki: Is he ok?

Jeremie: Oh... what happened? (he slowly gets up)

Odd: You promptly fainted upon hearing Xana's final part of her no good evil plan.

Jeremie (angry grumbling): Oh right... (he growls) Xana is going to pay with her life! I'm going to rip her apart pixel by pixel!

Anthea: She hasn't gotten away with it has she? (she looks at her watch) Oh wait, she has only three mere hours...

Grace: Three hours?

Anthea: Aelita is supposed to go into labor by 9pm tonight. By then, it will be too late. (she hangs her head in sorrow and begins to sob)

William: Um, Mrs. Schaffer, I actually have good news about that. We have spare time. (she dries her eyes and looks at William)

Anthea: But how would that be possible?

First, we gave proper introductions of who we are. Then we explained how Aelita was in Lyoko for a week, how Ulrich was possessed by Xana, the duel between Xana and William, and everything else that happened.

William: She may not have been able to evade Xana forever, but she bought us some time.

Franz Hopper: A week is still not very much time. And we have no clue where Xana or Aelita are...

Anthea: But how we will even find her?

William: I know how. With my powers, I can detect whenever Xana is nearby, and I can use that ability to find her. And possibly vice-versea for Xana.

Grace: You really think you can use your powers to find Aelita?

William: It's our only shot at this.

Yumi: Then you better not miss it. Or I'll never speak to you or Ulrich again.

Ulrich: Yumi, what's wrong?

Yumi: You know what's wrong. This mess we're in... you could blame it on Jeremie, but I blame both of you hooligans for this situation we're stuck in! You, Ulrich, you conspired against William! You listened to the enemy. You knew Xana was after Aelita! How could you let this happen?! And you, William! You didn't tell us of your superpowers. If we knew, we could have stopped Xana earlier by finding a way to use it to our advantage or maybe even prevent Xana from coming back! I never thought I'd say this, but, I'm through with both of you! (she walks to the elevator, she presses a button)

William/Ulrich: Yumi, wait! We're sorry! (they rush after her, the door opens, she gets in and leaves)

Hiroki: That's gotta hurt.

Later on, I was in my room,and everyone had gone back to their respective homes, and Aelita's parents went to the Hermitage. Despite the fact that only Franz Hopper blamed me for the mess we were in, I felt really awful. I knew some would blame William or Ulrich, but why did I feel like this was all my fault?

Jeremie: Aelita... (he begins crying) Forgive me...


	47. Be Prepared

The following evening, things weren't looking good for me and Sissi. We sat on the comfy couch in the living room, looking at the various different bills we had to pay. Our monthly bills were due in a few hours, but we still had some time.

Odd: Let's see... Water, taxes, phone, electric, done and done. What else is there?

Sissi: What about the medical bill?

Odd: I don't think we have to worry about Lily fired me,I lost all my health insurance ?

Sissi: Oh yeah. Another reason to hate my cousin. (she writes something down on a notepad with a pencil)

Odd: Uh, Sissi. I'm not trying to discourage you from giving up your dream of being a fashion designer, but if you inherit the restaurant, it might help us out here.

Sissi: I say that if Lilith goes down, so should her restaurant. It's only a fair punishment. Must I remind you that she tried to kill us?

Odd: No need to remind me. I just thought I'd throw that idea out there. (a knock on the door is heard) Come in. (Diana walks in with someone behind her, holding a purple hairbrush)

Diana: Hello, this isn't a bad time is it?

Sissi: I suppose not. Nice to see ya, cousin!(they hug briefly)

Diana Delmas was supposed to be an identical twin sister to Lily, but there were many visible differences between them. Her black hair reached to her waist, and she always wore a purple heart pendant necklace. Instead of wearing a black dress, Diana wore jeans, a purple tank top and purple tennis shoes. She really likes wearing purple, I don't know why. But the guy who was right beside her surprised me. It was Herb Pichon, whom I hadn't seen since we graduated Kadic Academy. His black hair was in a short ponytail, and he wore sweatpants with a blue blouse.

Odd: Herb? What are you doing here?

Sissi: Did I not tell you that Herb is Diana's boyfriend?

Diana: Correction, he's my fiance. (Sissi and Odd gasp in unison)

Sissi: He's your fiance?

Odd: Since when?

Diana: Since last night. We were at a very fancy restaurant, on an outdoor balcony all to ourselves. After I handed the server my credit card to pay the bill, Herb got down on his knees and proposed to me. (she holds up her hand, showing a sliver band with an amethyst stone on it) And of course, I said yes.

Herb:Finding the right ring was easy. Paying for it was somewhat difficult. But mustering up the courage to purpose to her? That was the hardest part.

Diana: How's fashion school going, Sissi?

Sissi: It's going very well. In about three more months, I'll be finished with school, and open my boutique shortly after I finish college.

Herb: Three more months? I thought you were in a four-year program.

Sissi: No, I'm in the three year fashion design program. It's a lot harder than the four year program, but it helps the designer get their fashion career earlier.

We talked about a few various things. And until we told her, Diana didn't know her sister's restaurant was on the brink of extinction. Herb was already aware of the news. Eventually, they left. Sissi sat on the couch, staring off into space, but as she mused in her own thoughts, she looked slightly tormented.

Odd: My sweet Sissi, are you ok?

Sissi: I was thinking about Xana's plan. How could she be so malevolent, demonic and wicked? Trying to take Aelita's child who hasn't even been born yet...That's just so wrong in so many ways. (she holds her hand to her forehead)

Odd: Are you alright?

Sissi: I'm fine. I think I need to lie down. (she walks upstairs,she mutters to herself) We must stop her.

Odd: Well, try to look on the bright side, Odd... At least you're not being blamed for the situation we're in. But it doesn't help too much. (sigh)

Before the mystery of madness had begun, I had thought about proposing to Sissi. Sadly, I never found the right ring or the right time to get one. And since I was fired, I thought it would be hard to pay the bills, but it wasn't. Sissi had predicted that I might have been fired, so she prepared herself for this. We always were prepared for trouble and hard times. But nothing could have prepared me for what happened next...


	48. Broken

I was in my old bedroom at my parents house, sitting on my old bed just for the nostalgia of it. Back before I knew about Lyoko, my life was simple. Or as simple as a normal life would get. During the War Against Xana One, things got more complicated. I fell in love with Ulrich and eventually William as well, all while trying to balance my schoolwork at Kadic with fighting for Lyoko. But now, six years after all that ended, things were more complicated then ever. The War Against Xana Two was not going well. Xana captured Aelita only two days ago, and we had only five more days to save her, her unborn child, all of France and the world from Xana's evil plans. But with Xana hiding in a top secret location, how was William, or any of us, going to find her?

(Yumi's phone rings, "I'm awake, I'm alive. Now I know what I believe inside...", she sees its Ulrich and denies the call, she looks at her dark reflection in the window)

Yumi: How can I even trust him? Or William?

I've broken up with both my boyfriends because of them being so dishonest and secretive with me and the rest of us. They've caused a major loss for us and a major win for Xana. I wanted to move on, but I couldn't.

(a knock on the door is heard)

Yumi: Come in. (Hiroki walks in, shutting the door behind him)

Hiroki: Yumi, are, are you..ok?

Yumi: To be honest... No, I'm not. (she sits down on her bed, Hiroki sits down on a chair)

Hiroki: What's wrong?

Yumi: Many things, Hiroki. Xana is winning the war, and there's nothing we can do to stop her..

Hiroki: Something tells me it's more than that.

Yumi: Well, I...I feel heartbroken.

Hiroki: I thought you lost your love for Ulrich and William.

Yumi: No... I want to be with them. (she begins to get misty-eyed) I love them. But... how can I trust them? (Hiroki shrugs, Yumi sighs) You're lucky, Hiroki. You don't have any relationship difficulties.

Hiroki: And how is that so?

Yumi: Think about it. During my first two years of high school at Kadic, mom and dad argued so much. Sometimes I didn't even understand what it was over. I never understood why they were fighting in the first place. Even before I broke up with them, it wasn't exactly easy to keep both Ulrich and William in line. But you? You and Milly are so happy together. No fights, no arguments, and nothing trying to threaten the stability of your romantic entanglement.

Hiroki: Yumi, contrary to... (a knock is heard on her door)

Yumi: Come in. (Akiko and Takeho enter)

Akiko: Yumi, are you alright?

Yumi: To be honest... I'm not alright. I don't know if things will be alright again.

Takeho: I know that you're trying to solve the mystery of Aelita's disappearance, aren't you?

Yumi: Yes, I am. But to honest, the situation is getting out of hand.

Akkio: Really? And how is that so?

Yumi: It's a rather long story.

Hiroki: We, and by we I mean me, Yumi, Jeremie and all our friends are having a difficult time dealing the situation. It's a very long story on how we got to the situation we're all in.

Takeho: Yumi, I know you don't have to tell us what's going on, but if you can, it would be nice to know what happened.

Yumi: I wish I could tell you, but I can't. Jeremie asked me to keep quiet about it.

Akkio: Oh, that's perfectly understandable. (Yumi's ringtone plays, she sees its William, and denies the call)

Hiroki: Don't worry Yumi, it'll be alright in the end.

Yumi: How can you be so sure about that?

Hiroki: Milly told me that there's always a way to turn things around. Her friend Violet told me to always be optimistic. Johnny told me to never give up. All three of my friends are right. Yumi, we can't give up now.

Yumi: Well, you're right about one thing, little brother. (she puts her hand on his shoulder) We won't give up.

Akkio: That's the spirit!

Takeho: Good luck, you two. You're gonna need it.


	49. Finding Xana

After Yumi dumped me and Ulrich, both of us were really upset. Ulrich probably took it harder than I did. As much as I wanted to find ways to apologize to Yumi, I had a job to do. Due to my superpowers, I was the only one who could track down Xana. We had only four days left to stop Xana's plans. The fate of the world, the country, Aelita, and her child were in my hands now. If I failed... I tried not to think about it. I continued meditating and searching for Aelita by following Xana's trail. I knew I had to find her.

(William is shown sitting Indian style on the floor, he is then shown in as a shadow version of himself, wondering around in some fields in France)

William: I've looked almost everywhere in France. The cities of Paris, Lyon, Nice, Orleans, the provinces of Îl-de-France, Burgundy, Normandy... (he sighs) Where haven't I looked?

I thought to myself really hard.

 _If I was Xana and I had just captured Aelita, where would I hide?_

I thought that Xana would hide herself in plain sight without anyone's notice. But after awhile, I began to think that I was wrong. So instead of going towards the more crowded and popular places, I went to the more deserted ones. In Lyon, I picked up Xana's trail and continued to follow it. Eventually it led me to the Alps. I walked down the Rhone river, and after walking down the river, it intersected with the Isère river. Then I saw a large 20 story building. The building was made of stone and had glass windows, but the very top window seemed to be blocked by large red curtains from the inside. I could feel Xana's presence. I knew she was in there.

William: Wow, that is a large building. Xana must be in there. (he turns into a shadow trail, slipping through the walls and ceilings, until he gets to the top floor)

I was hiding in a small corner of the room, far enough to avoid being seen by Xana, but not far enough that I couldn't see her. Xana smiled wickedly with confidence as she looked upon her prisoner. Aelita was strapped to the bed in specter form. Her back was elevated and her lower half of her body was covered with a white sheet-like blanket. It was easy to tell that she was heavily pregnant with Jeremie's child. But in spite of the danger she was in, Aelita looked at Xana with daggers in her eyes.

Aelita: You'll never get away with this Xana! Jeremie and the others will find you,and once they do, they'll tear you to pieces! (Xana chuckles)

Xana: You really think that they'll find you? We're in the Alps, one of the coldest and most deserted mountain ranges in all of Europe. The entire fortress is surrounded by an illusion barrier, so that no human can ever find us. So even if they knew you were in the Alps, they'd never find you. No one can save you, or your child. (Xana manifests a ball of blue energy in her hands, she slowly releases the energy, lulling Aelita to sleep) No one can stop me! Ah ha ha ha ha ha! (she sees William, looks away, then looks at William again and gasps) You!

William: Uh oh... I think I've overstayed my welcome.

Xana: So you're still alive, huh? Even after I throw you into the Digital Sea, you still live? Well it matters not. You and your friends will never reach my fortress! (she blasts him out the window, his shadow-like counterpart returns to his body)

William: That was close. Too close...I thought for sure she'd destroy me,but at least I know where she is.

I had discovered that they were in the French part of the Alps. At least I knew which country they were in. I called for the others at the Hermitage. Franz Hopper and Anthea were already there. Jeremie was the first to arrive, then Ulrich.

Jeremie: You really managed to find them?

William: Yes, it took me almost three days straight, but I did it.

Ulrich: Hey William?

William: Yeah?

Ulrich: Do you think Yumi will ever talk to us again? I've tried calling her three times and left two voice mails.

William: I called her twice and left a voice mail. She's really giving us the cold shoulder.

Ulrich: What are we even to her?

William: Probably just a bunch of hooligans.

Ulrich: We're supposed to be her hooligans. (sigh)

William: Ya know, I can't believe you're actually talking to me as if I was one of your friends...

Ulrich: Ya know, we may not be too different after all.

William: Really?

Ulrich: Really. When I was under Xana's control, I saw and heard everything Xana was forcing me to do... And I hated it.

William: Now you know how I felt when she possessed me all three times.


	50. Into the Alps

I never felt so guilty and heartbroken before. I thought things couldn't get better, that is, until I got a phone call from my old rival.

(Ulrich's phone rings, "It's my right to be hellish. I still get..." before he answers it)

Ulrich: Hello?

William (on phone): Ulrich, I have good news.

Ulrich: Um, alright. What is it?

William (on phone): I have found where Xana is hiding is holding Aelita captive.

Ulrich: Really? Where?

William (on phone): In the French Alps, near the Rhone river. I'll explain everything at the meeting at the Hermitage. Just get over there as soon as you can!

Ulrich: See you there. (he hangs up, rushes out of his apartment and begins running)

Running most of the way there, I quickly got the Hermitage, arriving before most of the others did. At first it was me, William, Mr. and Mrs. Schaeffer and Jeremie. Shortly after me and William finished talking about how we disappointed Yumi and how we were possessed by Xana, Grace arrived. Soon thereafter Odd and Sissi arrived.

Odd: Hey, where are Yumi and Hiroki? (they come running in, they stop, breathing heavily)

Yumi: Sorry... we're... late.

Anthea: Well, we're all here now. William, tell them the good news.

William: With my powers, I have been able to pinpoint Xana's exact location. She has set up a fortress in the French region of the Alps, where the Rhone and Isère river intersect.

Franz Hopper: And how can we be so sure that Xana is there?

William: Because I saw Xana and Aelita in the fortress. While Aelita was asleep, Xana was musing to herself aloud, thinking about how the Lyoko Warriors would never find her. But unfortunately, she noticed that I was spying on her. She's going to make this a lot more difficult for us.

Grace: It doesn't matter how tough the Shadow Woman makes this quest for us to accomplish. Lest we want to see the world we know be destroyed, we must stop her at all costs!

Ulrich: You seem really determined to defeat her.

Grace: Yeah, considering all that I know. If I had gone the other direction, I'd be singing a new song,wearing a different outfit and be blissfully unaware of all this bad news. But because I'm loyal to my friends, and because I'm here, I know that we must stop Shadow Woman.

Anthea: Shadow Woman?

Grace: That's my nickname for Xana. Nonetheless, we better move, and quickly.

Franz Hopper: Good luck, Lyoko Warriors. You will need it.

Ulrich: You're not coming with us?

Franz Hopper: Anthea knows nothing about fighting an evil A.I, and I've been fighting Xana for years. I'm getting too old for this. As much as it pains me, I need to trust Jeremie to save my daughter.

Jeremie: Don't worry, Mr. Schaeffer. We won't fail. (he runs out the door, the others follow him)

Anthea: You still don't trust him, do you?

Franz Hopper: I find it hard to trust him, dear.

I decided not to tell Jeremie what I heard on the way out, as it wouldn't help our mission. We traveled to Lyon, and got to the Alps.

(they stand on a snow-covered mountain with winter gear)

Hiroki: It seems quiet... Too quiet... (they start walking down the mountain, Yumi gets out a map of the Alps, Ulrich is behind Odd and Sissi, she presses her hand to her forehead and begins to fall, Odd grabs her by her shoulders before she falls)

Odd: Sissi!

Sissi: I'm fine. No need to worry about me.

I noticed that Sissi was smiling a whole lot for someone on a highly dangerous mission. Was something wrong?

Ulrich: Odd, is something wrong with Sissi? She nearly fainted.

Odd:I.. I'm not sure. Sissi, is something wrong?

Sissi: No, I'm fine. Really.

William: This could be Xana's doing.

Yumi: But if that's the case, why would she target Sissi?

Jeremie: I don't think Xana's responsible for Sissi not feeling too well.

Ulrich: But she's definitely responsible for that. (he points to the wolves blocking the mountain range, they stop pacing) Now what?

William: Don't you worry. I have a plan.

Ulrich (muttering): This can't end well...


	51. Step into My Scanner

(William throws red lightning bolts at the Xana-ifed wolves, they chase after him)

William: I'll catch up with you guys after I finish these wolves! Go! (the others run ahead of the wolves, but they notice them, and chase the Lyoko Warriors, William shocks them with lighting bolts, killing them, he runs up to Yumi, who is behind Jeremie and walks with the others)

Sissi: That was too close.

Ulrich: Now Xana knows we're trying to find her.

Jeremie: Probably, but she won't stop us.

Odd: I have a feeling that the worst is yet to come. (silence rains for a few minutes as they resume pacing)

Hiroki: So what would Xana do with Jeremie's child? That's what I don't get.

William: I thought Xana would mind-control her and/or raise her to be evil. Then again, that's coming from the perspective of a guy who was under Xana's control for a long amount of time and possessed by her not once, but three times. (Jeremie sighs in worry)

I tried not to listen to William. I dared not think about what Xana could do with my child. Just thinking about it had tortured me. Eventually, William stopped walking.

Hiroki: What's wrong?

William: We've reached the fortress.

Grace: I don't see anything.

William: Oh right. I forgot to mention that she has an illusion barrier around it to keep it hidden from humans. (he puts his hand to an invisible barrier, it begins to glow black, he uses red energy to break the barrier, it explodes, shattering into pieces that vanish as they hit the ground, the fortress is seen)

Ulrich: That is one tall building.

William: We better proceed with caution. Who knows what tricks Xana has up her sleeve? (they enter the building, and find themselves in a blue-walled room with several scanners)

Yumi: Where's Xana?

William: She and Aelita are at the very top of the building. (a black tv screen flashes with static, then it clears up, Xana is shown smiling with confidence)

Xana: Indeed I am. If you want to save Aelita, you'll have to get through several levels of monsters first. Step into the scanners, and face the wrath of my monsters.

Hiroki: Hold on a second. Something seems wrong.

Xana: And what would that be?

Hiroki: Why do I see eight scanners when there are only seven Lyoko Warriors?

Grace: Seven?

Hiroki: Yeah, you, me, Yumi, Ulrich, William, Odd and Sissi. Who am I missing?

Jeremie: You're missing me.

William: You? But you don't even have a Lyoko avatar. Do you?

Odd: Technically, he does. He just never goes to Lyoko because he prefers running the Supercomputer.

Jeremie: I'm going to fight Xana and her monsters. She's captured by pregnant wife and wants to steal my child! I'm not going to let that happen! I'll rip Xana apart pixel by pixel, even if it's the least thing I do!

Xana: You'll probably never reach me, but it'll still be fun to watch you try. (Jeremie growls)

William: You will never get away with this, Xana!

Hiroki: When does your challenge begin?

Xana: The challenge begins whenever you're ready. (she snaps her fingers, the scanners open) And by the way, if you lose all your life points, you'll be transported to my dungeon in the basement. I look forward to watching you fight. Also, you have 24 hours left to save Aelita. (the tv turns off, Jeremie runs into his scanner, the others follow his lead, the scanners close)

Jeremie: Just you wait Xana. Just you wait...

I felt my molecules disassemble as the green light shined down on me. The feeling of being virtualized was becoming more familiar, as I hadn't been virtualized onto Lyoko in several years.

 _But we're not going to Lyoko,_ I remind myself.

We're going into Xana's territory.


	52. The Trials Begin

We stepped into the scanners, and in only mere seconds, we were all virtualized into a desert like area. Wait a second! It was the Desert Sector on Lyoko! But how could this be possible? After that, I noticed Jeremie's Lyoko form. It hadn't changed, and it still looked ridiculous. Or at least, to me and Ulrich, it did. Jeremie looked like Mister Puck, Aelita's favorite childhood toy given to her by her parents as a Christmas present.

Sissi: The Desert Region?

William: It's an illusion. Xana is trying to trick us by thinking we're on Lyoko. (Bloks and Kankrelats appear) But that is not an illusion. (he manifests his sword from smoke, he begins destroy the Bloks by stabbing them in their eye)

Odd: Laser Arrow! (he shoots laser arrows at the Bloks, Yumi strikes two Bloks with her fans, Sissi fires her laser from her staff at the Krankrelats, Grace and Ulrich use their swords to destroy Krankrelats, Hiroki throws his sais at the Bloks, they eventually devirtualize all the monsters, the desert sector turns back into a long blue hallway)

Ulrich: This seems too easy...

William: You have to remember that this is only the 2nd floor. Who knows what surprises Xana could throw at us?

Hiroki: 20 floors total... Xana and Aelita being at the very top.

Odd: 18 more floors of trouble...

Jeremie: Come on, there should be an elevator here somewhere...

Grace: There it is! (she points to the elevator door, they run towards it, the door automatically opens, they enter the lift and the door shuts itself, the elevator goes up)

Yumi: I have a feeling that the worst is yet to come.

Jeremie: I fear that you may be right... If one of us gets sent to the dungeon, I don't know what we'll do about that.

William: Don't worry, Jeremie. That shouldn't happen.

Hiroki: Are you sure? We have several more monsters to fight and eight of us that can be devirtualized. (the door opens, the heroes enter the Mountain Sector)

Yumi: More illusions?

Odd: Apparently. (Hornets and Bloks fire lasers at the heroes, Odd and Hiroki get hit, Ulrich uses his sword to destroys the Bloks, Odd uses his laser arrows to fire at the Hornets, Sissi fires her laser at the Hornets, Yumi uses her fans to strike the Hornets but they dodge and one hits Sissi in her head, knocking her down, Jeremie fires a beam of blue light at a Blok, destroying it, Grace sings a high pitch note, stunning the monsters around her before she destroys them)

Jeremie: I'm not trying to say you shouldn't be singing, but you might want to be careful using that ability. It drains 1/4 of your life points every time you use it.

Grace: What? Why didn't you tell me?!

Jeremie: I thought you already knew! (the monsters continue to fire their lasers at Grace, she tries to fly upward but fails)

Grace hated being grounded in her Lyoko form, but after her wing was damaged by Xana-Ulrich, she would be stuck on the ground for several weeks. I continued shooting the Bloks, and we won. We were then in the 5th Sector, facing Creepers and Mantas, we found out that after finishing a floor's worth of monsters all of our life points were restored. We soon defeated the monsters and went for the elevator.

Odd: Something seems wrong... Why would Xana be so nice to us if we're her worst enemies?

William: She just wants to see us suffer. Plus, we've been through... how many floors of monsters?

Grace: Four floors. Four floors of monsters. We still have 15 more floors to go, but we must stop Shadow-Woman. (lasers fire at them instantly, they charge out of the elevator into the Ice Sector, Grace uses her sword against the Bloks, but they fire an ice beam at her, freezing her legs and her right arm with her sword in it, Bloks fire at her) No... no... (she is devirtualized by Kankrelats) Ahh!

Odd: Grace! (Odd fires Laser Arrows at the Kankrelats, he gets hit by a Manta's laser, he sees Sissi lying with her back on the ground, she fires a red beam from her staff to shield herself, but it begins to break)

I don't know what happened, or why it happened,but before I knew it, I took a Manta's laser for Sissi. And before I knew it, I was fading away.

(Odd begins to devirtualize as Sissi gets up, watching him devirtualize in horror)

Sissi: Odd!

Shortly after this, I found myself in a large room with a stone floor. There were a few comfy chairs, but in spite of that, Grace choose to sit on a raised wooden bench.

Grace: Odd? Is that you?

Odd: Yeah, it's me. (he sits on the bench a few feet from her) Are you ok?

Grace: I'm upset that I ended up here.I feel like I could of done better.

Odd: So do I, and I'm actually an experienced fighter on Lyoko.

Grace: Somehow, they'll stop Shadow-Woman. With or without us.


	53. Fake It

Author's Notes;

-Happy Mother's Day! Here's taking a moment to honor our mothers, those that have given birth to us, raised us, nurtured us and loved us, even at our worst.

Now then, we just saw two of the eight Lyoko Warriors fall? Who will make it through Xana's floors of doom? Who won't? Let's find out!

After the six of us finished the monsters, the room turned back to normal, but we stared at each other in shock.

Yumi: How.. how could this have happened? (they start running)

Hiroki: Odd being devirtualized in two lasers from a Manta? That's not right...

Jeremie: Xana must have made her monsters more powerful for the upcoming levels...

Sissi: This isn't good... (the elevator door closes)

William: Two warriors in one round. That's bad.

Ulrich: If we're gonna beat Xana, we need to step up our game. (the door opens, and they find themselves in the factory, Bloks and Krabs target them)

Hiroki: We're in the Factory? (he lights his sais on fire) But how is that possible? (he throws his sais at the Bloks, devirtualizing them, he picks up his sais and throws fire at them, but he misses)

Yumi: You gotta remember, this is Xana's territory. Also,we and the monsters have been virtualized as specters.

Hiroki: Ok... We're specters.. Whatever that means. (he barely dodges a Blok's attack, Yumi throws a fan at a Krab, gets hit with a laser and flies onto Ulrich after he slices a Krab's legs off, Jeremie throws beams of blue light at many Krabs, devirtualizing them)

Ulrich: Ya know, I think you're finally getting the hang of using your Lyoko powers. (William defeats the last few Bloks by stabbing them in their eye with his sword, the Factory turns back into a big hallway)

Yumi: These tricks are getting old, Xana. (they start running towards the elevator)

The next two floors were the Forest Sector and Kadic's Track. After this, we battled more monsters, and when we got to the 12th floor, the location had surprised me. We found ourselves in the Air Austral airport lobby in Paris, France. This was bringing back bad memories.

Ulrich: This place? Why this place?

Jeremie: There's not a monster in sight. (they see a fake Yumi, Ulrich, William and the PPG standing there)

Fake-Yumi: Hello there, little heroes.

Fake-William (PPG): You think you can get to Xana?

Fake-Xever and Fake-Xavier: Not happening.

Fake-Ulrich: You'll have to get past us.

Fake-William: You'll never escape with your lives. Attack! (the specters attack)

Ulrich: Specters of us and the PPG? That's messed up! (he barely dodges Fake-Yumi's energy beam, Jeremie uses a blue energy beam to destroy Fake-Ulrich, the PPG specters throw a combined energy beam at Hiroki, devirtualizing him)

Yumi: Hiroki! (she is kicked down by the Fake-William) The real William would never hurt me! (she throws her fans at Fake-William, he takes them and destroys them before her eyes, she begins to back away from Fake-William)

As I backed away from the specter of William, I saw the everyone else was occupied in battle, but William.. No, the Fake-William, was trying to corner and devirtualize me.

Fake-William: Why do you continue to fake it? (she kicks Fake-William down, she sees William and Ulrich tied up, about to be devirtualized by Fake-Yumi) You know you're still in love with them. (Yumi looks at the boys, Fake-William smirks)

Fake-Yumi: Say goodnight, pretty boys. (Yumi runs towards them as Fake-Yumi fires her beam)

Yumi: Ulrich, William, no! (she begins to devirtualize as she gets hit) I love you guys...

Ulrich/William: Yumi! (Yumi disappears)

Soon enough, I found myself, Hiroki, Odd and Grace in the dungeon.

(Hiroki sees Yumi, puts the hammer down)

Hiroki: Did you make it past the specters?

Yumi: No, and what are you doing?

Hiroki: Trying to find a way out of here.

Yumi: I don't think that's gonna work.

Odd: That's what we said, but he won't give up so easily.

Yumi: I wonder how much time they have left...

Hiroki: Who's been keeping track of time here lately?

Grace: I have, it is.. (she looks at her watch) 3:50pm? Oh boy...

Yumi: They don't have much time.

Hiroki: And neither do we... (he ponders to himself quietly)


	54. Colossal Trouble

At this point, we had lost half of our warriors. Our numbers went from eight to four and we had just finished the 12th floor. I was trying to be optimistic, as I knew we could still stop Xana and her evil plans. But after Yumi risked her freedom to save us, me and Ulrich felt bad. We both thought we didn't deserve to be saved after everything we had done. We didn't mean for this mess to happen, but we really screwed up. We were in the elevator, heading towards the 13th floor.

William: Sissi, are you ok?

Sissi: I'm fine. Why are you so worried?

Jeremie: To be honest, you haven't spoken much except for when you use your powers to fight the monsters.

William: You nearly fainted numerous amounts of times on the way here.

Ulrich: Plus, your face looked like you... (the elevator door opens, the Scyphozoa fires lasers at them, they quickly dodge) William, got any plans on how to defeat the Scyphozoa?

William: First piece of advice, don't get hit by the lasers! They do 40 points of damage! (William and Ulrich barely dodge the lasers) Second thing, the Scyphozoa has 500 life points. If we're going to defeat it, we need to combine our powers in a convergent attack!

(Sissi rises her staff and fires a laser beam at the Scyphozoa's eye, Jeremie fires a blue beam of light at the Schyphozoa, William uses a super-smoke beam, Ulrich throws one of his katana at the Schyphozoa's eye and uses Super Sprint, cutting off all the tentacles at a fast pace, the Schyphozoa tries to flee)

William: Oh no you don't! (William fires red lightning bolts at the Schyphozoa)

Eventually, after many rounds of using our combined powers, we defeated the Schyphozoa.

(the Schyphozoa devirtualizes, the Ice Sector turns back into a hallway)

Jeremie: That was exhausting.

Sissi: Agreed. Does anyone know how much time we have left? (they start running towards the elevator)

Ulrich: I'm not sure if any of you noticed, but at the top of the elevator door, there's a clock that displays the current time. (they enter the elevator) It is... 5:30?!

William: That took much longer than we thought.

Jeremie: If we want to save Aelita, we have to quicken our pace! (a montage begins, Sissi is seen defeating Mantas in Sector 5, Ulrich devirtualizes both Bloks and Hornets with his sword in the Mountain Sector, Jeremie devirtualizes the Megatanks with blue light in Lily's Gourmet By the Bay, William defeats Krabs and Tarantulas in the Forest Sector)

We quickly got through the next four floors, but by the time we got to the 19th floor, we were in trouble.

(the montage ends as the elevator opens, Sissi gasps as they enter the Desert Sector)

Sissi: What the heck is that?!

Ulrich: The Kolossus. A very big, very powerful largest and most powerful monster created by Xana... (gasps) No, it can't be...

Jeremie: Is that, Xana-William?

William: Another clone of me...

I saw Xana-Me right on top of the Kolossus. This was bringing up bad memories of me being under Xana's control.

Xana-William: You may as well turn back now, have no chance at stopping Xana, much less the Kolossus.

William: You'll never stop us, Xana! (he uses his lightning bolts to propel himself upward, he summons his sword in mid-air and tries to strike Xana-William, but he blocks William's attack with his sword, Jeremie throws blue beams of light trying to hit the eye on the Kolossus's sword, Ulrich barely dodges being crushed by the Kolossus's foot, William pushes Xana-William off but he lands on the ground, using Super Smoke to stun Ulrich)

Xana-William: You have no chance to defeat Xana. (he stabs Sissi in the back with his sword)

Sissi: Ahh! (she falls backwards and devirtualizes, he laughs at her until William attacks him)

While I battled Xana-William, Jeremie and Ulrich tried to defeat the Kolossus. Another swing, another strike. Another dodge.

(Xana-William and William clash their swords against the other one)

Xana-William: Give it up, you have no chance of stopping her!

William: Shut it, Xana. You'll never bring us down! (he pushes Xana-William back)

Eventually, Ulrich stabbed the eye on it's head and Jeremie destroyed the eye on its sword.

(Xana-William devirtualizes as William slashes him in the chest, William smiles)

William: Victory at last! (the Kolossus falls backwards, landing on William, devirtualizing him)

Like many of the other Lyoko warriors, I fell back-first onto the cold, hard floor of Xana's dungeon.

Yumi: William, are you ok?

William: I'm fine. Ulrich and Jeremie are heading to face Xana herself as we speak.

Grace: Finally!

Hiroki: If only we could find a way out of here...

Sissi: Don't give up on escape, Hiroki. We have to get out of here.


	55. The Final Countdown

After many monster-fighting trials, me and Jeremie had finally reached the top floor. We had finally found Aelita. But I was confused. Where the heck was Xana?

(Jeremie sees Aelita tied to post, while Ulrich looks for Xana)

Jeremie: Aelita! (he runs towards her, the illusion of Aelita disappears) Xana, where are you? (Xana's laughter echoes throughout the room, the room changes to a large indoor stadium, Aelita is seen trapped in a cage of red light while strapped to her bed)

Ulrich: Xana, we know you're hiding here! So show yourself! (Xana chuckles to herself as she forms in front of Aelita's cage)

Xana (to Jeremie): So you actually made it here. Well done. I never thought you'd get this far.

Jeremie: Release Aelita or else!

Xana: If you want to free her, you'll have to face me. However, you have no chance of defeating me. If William couldn't stop me from capturing Aelita, what makes you think you can save her?

Aelita: Jeremie... You must stop her... I don't have much time! (Xana puts a black bubble around Aelita's cage, blocking out all sound)

Jeremie/Ulrich: You're on, Xana!

Xana: Well, it's your funeral. (she fires red lightning bolts at Ulrich, he deflects them with his katana, she then fires at Jeremie, but he quickly dodges, Xana throws a black beam at the ground, it begins to shake and crack, Jeremie jumps upward and dodges Xana's attack, Ulrich loses a number of life-points)

Jeremie: Ulrich, you just lost 50 life points!

Ulrich: Thanks for the tip, Einstein, but how is that information useful at this point?! (Xana fires a white beam at Ulrich, but Jeremie creates a shield of blue light, which shatters after taking the blow from Xana's attack, Jeremie fires a beam of blue light at Xana, she easily dodges, throws a black beam at Jeremie, which he barely dodges, Xana turns into shadow and makes her way to Ulrich)

Xana: If I still needed you around, I would have possessed you by now, but I have no use for you now.

Ulrich: What? (Xana kicks him down and grabs one of his katana, she fires a blinding white beam at Jeremie, he surrounds himself with a blue shield)

Jeremie: Your trickery won't work on me, Xana!

Xana: You're not the one I'm after. (she charges the katana blade with red lightning bolts, Ulrich charges at her at high-speed)

With revenge on my mind, I activated super-sprint and charged at Xana, ready to destroy her, once and for all.

(Xana strikes Ulrich with his own lightning charged blade, taking 20 life points from him, he is shocked with another red lightning bolt, taking another 20 life points, Ulrich falls to the ground, Jeremie kicks Xana down, and fires a beam of blue light)

Jeremie: You'll never win this battle, Xana!

Xana: On the contrary, it's all over for you. You've lost, and I have won. (Ulrich begins to devirtualize after being hit with a red lightning bolt)

Ulrich: NO! (he disappears)

I felt so weak, and after a very painful devirtualization, I joined the rest of the Lyoko Warriors in the dungeon.

Yumi: Ulrich, are you ok?

Ulrich: I... I failed.

Grace: Only Jeremie's left?

Hiroki (muttering): There has to be a way out of here.

Sissi: This is really bad...

William: Jeremie has very little time left to do the impossible. I.. I never thought I'd hear myself say this again, but, I've lost all hope... It's.. it's over.

Sissi (muttering very quietly): It can't be over... It can't be...


	56. The Last Lyoko Warrior

I couldn't believe what just happened.

Xana: On the contrary, it's all over for you. You've lost, and I have won. (a red lightning bolt shocks Ulrich, he begins to devirtualize)

Ulrich: NO! (he disappears)

Jeremie: Ulrich!

All of my worst nightmares were coming true. I was standing here, all alone. I may have had a Lyoko Avatar, but I was no warrior. My friends, Aelita, and even Xana knew that.

Xana: Foolish mortal... Did you really think you and your friends could stop me? You can't defeat me, Jeremie Belepois. (Jeremie throws a stream of blue light at Xana, she easily dodges and trips Jeremie) You are the last Lyoko Warrior, if you can even call yourself that.

I knew Xana was right. I was no warrior.

Xana: If you give up now, I'll spare you, and you can join your friends in the dungeon. Otherwise, you'll die at my hands. (Jeremie balls up his fists) So what will it be? Will you surrender, or will you die trying to save all that you love?

I remembered the plan that William and I had discussed during the third day in the Alps, before everyone else had woken up. But now that I was facing Xana herself, I realized just how difficult it was. Could I, the last Lyoko Warrior, even do something no warrior has ever even done before? I looked at Aelita, who was still trapped in Xana's grasp.

Xana: So, what's your answer?

Jeremie: I'll never surrender. (he throws a green beam of energy at Xana)

Xana: So this is how we will end it. With your demise! (she throws several purple lightning bolts at him, he counters with a bunch of red lightning bolts) What's this? You're the one that has the missing portion of my power? Before I kill you, I'll take back what rightfully belongs to me. (Jeremie throws a blue ball of energy at Xana, then a green one which knocks her down, she gets back up, she throws a blinding beam of light at Jeremie, which knocks him down and temporarily blinds him) Finally... (she throws a purple lightning bolt at him, a black ball of energy leaves him and Xana grabs it) It is mine... (she reabsorbs the black energy back into herself) I'm at full power! You'll never defeat me, Jeremie Belepois!

Jeremie: It doesn't matter if you're at full power, Xana! (he glows with green energy) I'll never give up! (he throws a stream of green energy at Xana, she counters with a black beam, they clash with each other)

Xana: You can't defeat me, Jeremie. You're not even a Lyoko Warrior.

Sadly, I believed she was right. I wasn't a Lyoko Warrior. Aelita looked really worried at this point. Although she was muted, somehow, I could hear her say something.

Aelita: _Jeremie, you're a warrior. The Last Lyoko Warrior._

I realized that Xana was trying to distract me and kill me. The black bubble around Aelita was fading, which was a good sign that my plan was working.

Jeremie: You're finished, Xana! (he pushes Xana's energy stream back with his own, Xana is surrounded in green light)

Xana: No, no, no! What's happening?!

Jeremie: I said I was going to rip you apart, pixel by pixel, and I did. Your digital structure is crumbling. You're going to be dead in mere seconds.

Xana: What?! No! This can't be happening! You're not a warrior!

Jeremie: That's where you're wrong, Xana! I'm the last Lyoko Warrior. (Xana begins to devirtualize in black pixels, the black bubble fades and Aelita is released from Xana's trap)

Xana: Curse you, Jeremie Belepois! CURSES! (the pixels explode and fade away, the building begins to shake and crumble)

Aelita: We have to get out of here! (Jeremie picks up Aelita and takes her through a portal he creates, which leads to the factory, he takes her outside the factory to the other side of the bridge, he sets her on her feet)

Jeremie: That was a close call. (Aelita is holding her stomach in pain)

Aelita: Jeremie, my water broke! Call the doctor!

Jeremie: Oh dear... (he gets out his phone and starts dialing)

I couldn't get any chance to catch my breath. But I wanted to believe everything would be alright in the end.


	57. Out of the Alps

Sissi: There has to be a way out of here... (the building begins to crumble and shake) What's going on?!

William: Xana's been defeated. Now everything that she has created is being destroyed. (the building crumbles down)

One minute, we were all stuck in one giant dungeon room. The next thing we knew, we were back outside in our warm winter gear and the fortress collapsed.

Grace: Jeremie... he did it.

Odd: But where are they? (Odd's ringtone plays) Hello?

Jeremie (on phone): Odd, do you hear me?

Odd: Jeremie, you're alive! But what happened? (a scream of pain from Aelita is heard from the other side)

Jeremie (on phone): There's too much to explain and not enough time. But in the end, everything will be fine.

Aelita (off-screen): Jeremie...

Jeremie (to Aelita): Hold on, Aelita! We'll make it through! (to everyone else) Sorry to say this guys, but you're going to be stuck in the Alps, getting back home without my help.

Odd: Don't worry, Jeremie. We'll get back home... Eventually.

Jeremie: Well, goodbye and good luck. (he hangs up)

William: We better get moving. It's going to be a long walk back to Lyon.

We walked for what seemed like forever. It was almost midnight, 11:55pm to be precise, so we stopped to rest. The next day, Ulrich noticed that all of his food was gone.

Ulrich: I don't get it, I could of sworn I had packed enough food for a week! Odd, did you eat it?

Odd: What? No! (they start arguing)

Yumi: Oi vey...

First day back to Lyon. It was Thursday, March 19th, 2015. Sissi nearly fainted twice. And we still weren't quite sure who or what took Ulrich's food supply. Second day, Sissi was still feeling tired. I actually had to help her out at times. Something told me that Sissi was in denial, with herself or to others. I couldn't help but think that something was wrong with her. But what could it be, if anything? Third day, at about 4:55 in the afternoon, we finally made it to Lyon. We were in a park there, taking a brief rest from our adventure into the Alps.

Grace: I suppose this is where we part ways.

Odd: You're leaving?

Grace: I made a promise that I wouldn't leave until we find Aelita and save her from Xana, and I have fulfilled my promise. It's time for me to go to Los Angeles and pursue my dream. (Odd looks down) Don't worry, Odd, I'll see you again someday.

Odd: I'll miss you Grace. (they hug for a while)

Grace: I'll see you again someday. And by the way, I want to thank you.

Odd: For what?

Grace: For always being loyal to me. You guys are the best friends I could ask for.

Yumi: We should be the ones thanking you. You saved our skins from Lilith.

Grace: She was one terrible boss. Hopefully, I'll get a good manager when I finally get my singing career.

Odd: Goodbye, Grace. I'll see you again someday.

Grace: Goodbye! (she runs off, taking her bags with her)

William: She is a really nice girl, isn't she?

Ulrich/Odd/Yumi/Hiroki: She is. (Sissi groans before fainting, landing on her side)

Odd: Sissi! (he holds her in his arms) Oh no...

Ulrich: Oh dear... (he gets out his phone and starts dialing)


	58. Aftermath of the Adventure in the Alps

The adventure in the Alps and ended and Grace left for Los Angeles. I thought that we'd have a chance to catch our breath after arriving at Lyon. We were wrong. Instead, Sissi suddenly fainted. We called for help and were waiting in the lobby of Clinique du Parc à Lyon. We all sat down on lounge chairs and could only wonder what was wrong with Sissi.

Yumi: Hey, um.. Ulrich, William?

Ulrich: Yes, Yumi?

William: Is something wrong?

Yumi: I.. I'd like to apologize.. for being so cold hearted towards you lately...

Ulrich: You shouldn't have to apologize for that.

William: We're the ones who screwed up. (she takes William and Ulrich's hands and drags them into a hallway)

Yumi: Well, the rift between us... As a trio, maybe it's really all our faults. I think we all played a role in this. Me being upset and blaming you for the crisis...

William: Me being quiet about my powers which no longer exist.

Ulrich: And me listening to Xana in the first place. It's ok, Yumi.

William: We forgive you. (they give Yumi a double kiss on her cheek, she blushes, afterwards she throws her arms around their necks)

Yumi: Apology accepted. (they return to the lobby) Any news on Sissi and how she's doing?

Odd: No, absolutely nothing.

Hiroki: This seems strange. (his phone plays, "I swear I never meant to let it die...", before he answers the video-chat call) Hey Jeremie.

Jeremie: Hey guys. Is there a reason you're not in Paris?

Hiroki: Grace departed for L.A and Sissi suddenly fainted afterwards. We have no clue what's going on. (a nurse walks up to them)

Nurse: Are any of you named Odd Della Robia?

Odd: That's me.

Nurse: Sissi wants to see you. (the others follow Odd) Alone. (they all stop walking)

William: Alone?

Nurse: Yes, alone. Mr. Della Robia, come with me. (they depart)

Yumi (muttering): Something seems weird here...

Ulrich: Hey, where's William? (they see William isn't there)

Jeremie: Things are getting stranger.

Hiroki: Are things alright on your end?

Jeremie: Yes, everything's fine. Me and Aelita have a beautiful baby girl named Maya.

Hiroki: Maya? What made you choose the name Maya?

Jeremie: It's a long story.

Yumi: Well, on the bright side, the trouble is behind us. For the most part.

Jeremie: Very true. (Ulrich's phone dings)

Ulrich: Well, according to Odd, we may be here a while.

Hiroki: How long is that while?

Ulrich: He didn't say...

Jeremie: How things on your end?

Yumi: William disappeared, but I'm sure he'll come back. And the world's most unlikely trio is a trio again.

Jeremie: I figured you would forgive them in time.

Yumi: At first, I wanted to fall out of love with them for what they did, but I couldn't let them go. They mean so much to me.

Jeremie: Well, I better get going. I need to call my boss. I'll see you later.

Hiroki: Bye Jeremie! (he hangs up) I wonder what's taking so long...

Ulrich: And where did William disappear off to?

Yumi: I have no idea...


	59. Secrets Under Wraps

I was walking around the hospital looking for Odd and Sissi's room when phone went off. I quickly denied the call and turned my phone off, and I saw that it was my best friend, Sammy Andrews. I had to avoid being heard if Sissi's room was nearby. I didn't want to be like Ulrich and jump to conclusions, but whatever was going with Sissi seemed very strange. Eventually, I found her on the third floor, in room C12. Odd found Sissi's room and went in. The nurse left, and she might of seen me, but I didn't think that mattered too much. I stayed outside the room to hear the conversation between the two lovebirds. Sissi lied on the hospital bed, with Odd standing next to her.

Odd: Sissi, what's wrong?

Sissi: I can't lie to you, can I?

Odd: Sissi... (he holds her hand) I need to know; what's going on?

Sissi: You're not going to like hearing this.

Odd: Sissi...? (she looks at him sadly)

Sissi: Odd, I'm pregnant. And you're the father. (Odd gasps, William quickly covers his mouth)

I had to avoid making any sound or they would know I was there.

Odd: Did.. did you just now figure that out?

Sissi: No. I took the test only minutes before you told me that William found Xana. Right before you called for me, I discovered that my suspicions were true. Unfortunately, I had no time to say anything. I knew Jeremie needed every Lyoko Warrior for the mission. Also, I was scared to tell you...

Odd: Why.. why would you be scared to tell me?

Sissi: I was trying to keep calm under all this pressure, but I thought that if the others knew, it would interfere with saving Aelita and her child from Xana.  
There's a reason I was so scarred back in the dungeon. I thought Xana would find out my secret, take my child or...

Odd: Sissi... I would never let anyone hurt you. (he hugs her around her chest) Or our child. I assume you plan to keep it, right?

Sissi: Taking the easy way out wouldn't be right. We'll keep it, but we'll have to keep this a secret from the others until we get hitched. But would we even be able to afford the wedding? Or even...

Odd: Don't worry, Sissi. (he lets go and holds her hand again) We'll get through this somehow.

Sissi: Yeah, we'll... Hmm? (Sissi looks out the door, William runs away quickly)

William: That was close.

I returned to the lobby, where the others were waiting for me.

Yumi: Ah there you are, Will.

Ulrich: So where were you?

William: Just walking around the halls, musing to myself over all that has happened within the last few weeks.

A few minutes later, Odd and Sissi returned to the lobby. Luckily, she doesn't know that I spied on her and Odd. Or at least, it seems like she didn't know.

Yumi: Is everything alright?

Odd: Everything's peachy keen, my friends.

Sissi: Come on, let's get back to Paris.

As much as I hated to do it, I'd have to keep a major secret under wraps... Yet again...


	60. Various Possibilities

Author's Notes:

-Hey guys and girls. Guess what? We've reached the end of The Mystery of Madness! 60 chapters of madness and craziness. I wonder if I'll ever break that record. Hope you enjoy the last chapter and stay tuned in for more to come!

* * *

It was Tuesday, March 24th, 2015. It had been nearly a week since Aelita and Jeremie had their little girl Maya. Quite a fitting name too. All of the crew that was still in Paris decided to visit them. That is, everyone except for Odd and Sissi. Odd said that they were tired from their adventures in the Alps. So instead of being there in person, we saw them through face chat on our phones. The two couch potatoes were lying on Sissi's bed in some comfy clothes.

Sissi: Aw... She looks so cute.

Odd: What she said. Oh and by the way I have some great news to tell you.

Ulrich: Ok, what is it?

Odd: I'm working at Lily's Gourmet By the Bay again!

Yumi: Really?

Jeremie: That's awesome!

Aelita: But how is that possible?

Sissi: I'm not sure if anyone told you this, but Lily has a sister. A very kind and generous supposed to be identical twin sister named Diana Delmas.

Ulrich: Supposed to be identical twins?

Sissi: Until Lily cut off her hair at the age of 16, 18 maybe? Anyway, they're supposed to be identical, but there are many physical differences between them. Nonetheless, Diana inherited the restaurant and offered Odd his job back. He immediately accepted the offer.

Odd: She wanted to hire back Grace and Nickolas as well, but as you know, she already left for L.A.

Yumi: Even then the girl who impersonated him is dead.

William: Nice to see that you got your job back.

Sissi: You better not get fired again.

Odd: Don't worry, Sissi. I won't get the pink slip.

Hiroki: It's nice to see that everything's back to normal.

Yumi: Agreed.

Later on that day, me and William were grabbing our bags and moving into a real house located within the city limits of Paris.

William: Wow, this is a nice place you picked out here.

Ulrich: I agree. This place has everything.

Yumi: Do you like it?

Ulrich: Yeah. I like it.

William: Nice place, but why is it so big?

Yumi: I thought that if any of us decide to adopt children,we would went a big house for them. But we can think about that some other time.

Ulrich: Agreed. Now that Xana's been defeated, I think we need some rest and relaxation.

William: That's something we can all agree on.

Later on, we were all in our respective bedrooms and asleep. Well, almost all of us... I stood on the porch, thinking to myself that the various possibilities for the future were all very good. But my train of thought was interrupted by footsteps stepping on a twig.

Ulrich: Huh? Who's there?

I heard more footsteps, but when I looked down to see who or what stepped on the twig, they were gone.

Ulrich: It's ok, Ulrich. You and your friends have nothing to worry about.

I went back inside and thought of how wonderful life would be for us now that Xana was truly and finally defeated.


End file.
